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THE  REQUIRED  LITERATURE  FOR   1896-7. 

The  Growth  of  the  French  Nation  (illus- 
trated). George  B.  Adams,  Professor  of  History, 
Yale  University §1.00 

French  Traits.  W.  C.  Brownell,  of  Seribners',  New- 
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Cbautauqua  IReaDing  Circle  Xtterature 


A  SURVEY 


OF 


GREEK  CIVILIZATION 


BY 


J.  P.  MAHAFFY,  D.D.,  D.C.L.  (Oxon.) 

Fellow  of  Trinity  College,  Dublin  ;  Hon.  Fellow  of  Queen's  College,  Oxford; 

Professor  of  Ancient  History  in  the  University  of  Dublin. 

Author  of  "  Social  Life   in   Greece"   "Prolegomena  to  Ancient  History" 

"Greek  Life  and  Thought,"  " History  of  Greek  Literature," 

"  The  Greek  World  Under  Roman  Sway,"  etc. 


MEADVILLE  PENNA 

FLOOD  AND  VINCENT 

€be  ($batitauqua--(3tentur)J  prcstf 

NEW   YORK  :  CINCINNATI:  CHICAGO: 

150  Fifth  Avenue.        222  W.  Fourth  St.       57  Washington  St. 
I8q6 


Copyright,  1896 
By  Flood  &  Vincent 


The  Chautauqua- Century  Press,  Meadville,  Pa.,   U.  S.  A. 
Electrotyped.  Printed,  and  Bound  by  Flood  &  Vincent. 


PREFACE. 

There  is,  I  think,  a  strong  tendency  in  the  present 
day  to  pursue  the  threads  of  knowledge  separately.  It  is 
on  the  whole  a  wholesome  tendency,  though  it  sacrifices 
breadth  and  variety  of  acquisition  to  thoroughness  in 
each  department.  A  herd  of  specialists  is  rising  up, 
each  master  of  his  own  subject,  but  absolutely  ignorant 
and  careless  of  all  that  is  going  on  around  him  in 
kindred  studies.  The  man  who  has  turned  his  mind  to 
various  pursuits,  and  has  endeavored  to  embrace  in  his 
view  many  fields  of  research,  is  even  looked  upon  with 
suspicion,  instead  of  respect,  and  presumed  to  be  inac- 
curate in  each  of  the  particular  fields  which  occupy 
so  many  special  students  exclusively. 

I  fear  that  this  separation  is  being  carried  out  beyond 
its  legitimate  or  useful  degree  even  in  the  separation 
of  secular  and  religious  subjects,  of  intellectual  and 
moral  studies.  To  take  the  most  signal  example  :  In 
the  Roman  Catholic  Church  it  is  an  avowed  principle 
that  theology  is  the  only  necessary  science  for  the  edu- 
cation of  a  priest,  that  this  theology,  far  from  being  en- 
lightened, is  likely  to  be  endangered  by  secular  knowl- 
edge. On  the  other  hand,  the  scientist  generally  stands 
aloof  from  theology,  and  too  often  expresses  his  con- 
tempt for  it  as  a  non-progressive  science,  or  if  he  be  of 
a  better  moral  fiber,  and  acknowledges  the  weight  and 
importance  of  religion,  he  is  ready  to  accept,  as  a  mere 
layman,  what  his  pastor  or  other  clerical  adviser  may 
teach. 

The  result  is  a  loss  of  breadth  on  the  theological  side, 


2043410 


iv  Preface. 

a  loss  of  seriousness  (in  the  moral  sense)  on  the  scien- 
tific side.  In  both  there  is  the  increasing  tendency 
to  thrust  aside  or  forget  the  great  unifying  principle 
of  all  our  life  and  knowledge  —  that  all  our  thought,  all 
our  science,  all  our  history,  all  our  speculation  of  every 
kind,  nay,  even  all  the  vast  complex  of  worlds  in  which 
myriads  of  other  beings  may  be  prosecuting  similar  in- 
quiries— these  are  the  product  or  the  outcome  of  the  de- 
sign of  one  Almighty  God,  who  has  created  the  world 
according  to  his  infinite  wisdom,  and  rules  it  according 
to  his  infinite  goodness.  A  recognition  of  this  great  fact 
on  our  part  is  the  proper  link  or  common  ground  of  all 
the  various  and  minute  special  researches  we  may  make 
into  the  laws  of  the  universe,  or  the  history  of  any  part  of 
it.  Nay,  more,  it  is  the  proper  defense,  the  only  defense 
we  can  make,  if  we  are  checked  by  the  warning  that  in 
the  few  years  vouchsafed  to  us  on  this  earth  we  have  no 
right  to  spend  one  moment  of  our  precious  time  upon 
things  of  no  eternal  import  ;  that  the  study  of  religion 
and  our  future  condition  under  the  providence  of  God 
is  our  only  proper  employment.  We  can  reply  in 
the  most  thorough  earnest  that  the  exclusive  study  of 
what  we  have  separated  and  called  moral  or  religious 
science  is  not  the  best  way  to  promote  that  very  science. 
The  most  remarkable  illustrations,  the  most  powerful 
vindications  of  God's  providence,  are  found  in  probing 
the  secrets  of  the  laws  of  nature,  the  varieties  in  the 
course  of  human  history.  Here  we  may  see  working  in 
practice  what  we  learn  from  our  theology  in  theory,  and 
if  in  our  feebleness  and  blindness  we  are  unable  to 
accommodate  all  the  phenomena  of  science  or  of  history 
to  these  laws,  surely  the  worst  way  out  of  the  difficulty 
is  to  ignore  it,  to  shut  our  eyes  to  the  facts,  instead  of 
using  them  to  correct  or  enlarge  our  theory. 


Preface.  v 

It  is  for  these  reasons  that  what  may  be  called  the 
Chautauqua  idea  of  starting  from  the  knowledge  and 
love  of  God  as  a  great  first  principle,  and  passing  from  it 
into  the  broadest  and  most  various  survey  of  human 
knowledge  as  such,  is  not  only  the  highest,  but  the  only 
true  method  of  general  education.  But  it  is  part  and 
parcel  of  this  method  that  the  student  need  not  perpetu- 
ally be  reminded  of  it.  He  must  have  his  hours  of 
special  and  absorbing  study  when  he  is  engrossed  in  the 
special  branch  he  has  in  hand,  and  when  he  need 
not,  and  cannot,  be  constantly  dwelling  upon  the  great 
idea  which  underlies  all  his  life  and  work.  Just  as  a  dili- 
gent man  of  business,  whose  faith  and  trust  in  God  are 
strong  and  clear,  must  nevertheless  plunge  into  daily 
affairs  and  do  worldly  work  which  absorbs  him  for  hours 
in  the  day,  while  the  thought  of  God  retires  into 
the  depths  of  his  soul— the  silent  influence  which, 
without  being  constantly  recalled  into  consciousness, 
nevertheless  orders  his  thoughts  and  protects  him  from 
temptations  to  fraud  or  selfishness  —  so  the  student 
of  this  history  or  any  other  branch  of  knowledge  ought 
to  pursue  it  with  all  his  heart  and  search  it  out  as  such, 
secure  if  he  reverts  to  the  first  basis  of  all  knowledge  and 
concludes  that  all  the  phenomena  he  has  examined  are 
instances  of  laws  established  by  the  great  Creator  of  the 
world.  For  the  God  revealed  to  us  is  no  oriental 
despot,  who  is  content  to  see  his  slaves  perpetually 
occupied  in  watching  and  praising  their  master,  thus 
neglecting  all  other  duties.  He  has  rather  set  them 
to  gain  more  knowledge  with  the  talents  intrusted  to 
them,  to  push  their  way  into  the  secrets  of  his  wisdom 
with  all  the  diligence,  all  the  accuracy,  all  the  devotion 
to  this  work  of  which  they  are  capable  ;  and  if  such  a 
servant,  intent  upon  his  lawful  work,  fails  to  look  up  and 


vi  Preface. 

see  that  the  Master  is  present,  may  not  such  a  fault  be 
pardoned  by  him  who  has  ordained  that  labor  is  honor- 
able and  zeal  a  moral  duty?  "  Whatsoever  thine  hand 
rindeth  to  do,  do  it  with  all  thy  might." 

These  considerations  justify  a  very  common  feeling 
among  literary  men,  who  do  not  regard  the  question  be- 
fore us  so  seriously.  Even  in  works  of  fiction,  they  say, 
it  is  a  defect  and  an  injury  to  the  intentions  of  the 
teacher  if  his  moral  be  drawn  too  plainly  ;  if  he  not  only 
shows  his  characters  and  their  adventures  to  the  reader, 
but  also  tells  him  what  lessons  that  reader  is  expected  to 
draw  from  the  narrative.  The  greatest  moral  teachers 
even  in  fiction  are  those  who  give  us  the  truest  and  most 
striking  pictures  of  human  life  and  have  left  all  moral 
inferences  to  work  their  own  way  with  the  reader.  Such 
is  the  subtle  but  powerful  teaching  in  yEschylus,  Shakes- 
peare, Scott,  in  fiction,  and  in  true  history  there  is 
no  more  signal  example  than  the  Gospel  narratives  of 
our  Lord's  passion,  where  not  a  single  reflection  or  ad- 
vice from  the  writer  mars  the  dignity  and  the  pathos  of 
the  narrative. 

The  same  great  principle  may  be  applied  in  smaller 
and  less  important  work.  It  is  on  the  whole  better  for 
me  to  draw  a  picture  of  Greek  civilization  as  it  was,  and 
as  it  aspired  to  be,  without  laying  stress,  during  our 
progress,  on  the  contrasts  of  the  culture  of  intellect  with- 
out moral  forces  to  balance  it,  to  that  which  has  received 
the  powerful  support  of  Christianity.  It  is  not  easy  even 
to  guess  what  changes  this  great  moral  force  would  have 
made  in  Greek  culture  had  it  been  applied  during  its 
most  brilliant  days.  Christianity  has  hitherto  been 
powerless  to  affect  some  brilliant  societies,  though  it  has 
worked  a  great  reformation  in  the  world.  The  Italian 
states  in  the  Renaissance  of  the-  fifteenth  and  sixteenth 


Preface.  vii 

centuries  were  torn  by  all  the  vices  and  crimes  which 
Thucydides  describes  as  rife  in  the  warring  Greek 
republics.  Machiavelli's  idea  of  politics  seems  to  have 
advanced  in  no  way  upon  Aristotle's,  from  a  moral 
point  of  view.  Nay,  even  in  the  present  day,  on  the 
very  skirts  of  civilization  and  in  countries  once  en- 
dowed with  humanity  and  culture,  there  are  atrocities 
committed  such  as  we  might  only  expect  from  the 
savages  of  Central  Africa.  In  the  very  center,  in  the 
very  forefront  of  civilization  do  we  not  see  greed, 
ambition,  international  jealousy  urging  neighbor  nations 
to  cast  aside  every  moral,  every  Christian  consideration, 
and  to  draw  the  sword  in  support  of  national  objects, 
which  every  honest  man  in  either  nation  would  disavow 
as  base  and  unworthy  in  any  private  transaction  ?  So 
far  one  might  be  tempted  to  say  that  the  teaching  of 
Christianity  has  made,  alas  !  but  little  difference. 

On  the  other  hand,  it  cannot  be  denied  that,  in  this 
century  at  least,  there  is  a  moderation  in  the  practice 
of  war  among  Christian  nations,  which  did  not  exist  in 
old  Greek  days.  Not  that  there  were  then  wanting  men 
quite  modern  in  their  humanity  ;  but  the  average  has 
been  raised;  the  opinion  of  the  majority,  of  common  men 
and  women,  is  more  humane  since  the  preaching  of  the 
Gospel.  On  the  other  hand,  it  is  quite  possible  that  an 
earlier  diffusion  of  Christianity  might  have  stopped  the 
great  artistic  development  which  has  left  so  many  per- 
manent traces  upon  our  life.  Polytheism,  with  Greeks 
living  under  it,  produced  far  finer  results  in  art  than 
Christianity,  with  Italians  striving  to  glorify  it  on  canvas 
and  in  stone.  At  all  events,  we  should  never  have 
learned  what  was  possible  for  the  human  intellect  apart 
from  revelation,  and  what  flaws  and  faults  adhere  to  the 
highest  manifestations  of  that  intellect,  had  we  not  be- 


viii  Preface. 

fore  us  the  example  of  both  the  greatness  and  the  small- 
ness  of  Greek  civilization. 

But  it  is  indeed  an  idle  speculation  to  consider  what 
would  or  would  not  have  happened  had  God  ordered 
the  world's  history  otherwise  than  he  has  done.  One 
weighty  utterance  is  sufficient  for  us  :  "  When  the  full- 
ness of  time  li'as  come  God  sent  forth  His  Son."  If, 
therefore,  the  world  required  preparation  for  that  cardi- 
nal turning  point,  if  a  certain  condition  of  ripeness 
was  required  for  the  proper  acceptance  of  the  Gospel 
by  man,  then  the  history  which  I  have  written  in 
this  volume  is  probably  a  most  vital  and  important 
step  in  that  preparation,  perhaps  hardly  less  important 
than  that  Law  "which  was  our  schoolmaster  to  bring  us 
unto  Christ."  For  that  Law  affected  only  the  chosen 
people,  whereas  Hellenic  culture  affected  the  world. 

The  reader  will  find  this  topic  discussed  in  my  final 
chapter,  so  that  I  need  not  enlarge  upon  it  here.  It  is 
enough  to  remind  him  that  he  is  not  about  to  study 
a  work  of  mere  secular  import,  and  only  of  use  or  inter- 
est to  a  worldly  man  ;  the  whole  of  these  rich  and  varied 
antecedents  to  the  establishment  of  that  Christian  cul- 
ture which  is  the  highest  ideal  we  possess  of  life  upon 
this  earth  are  well  worth  the  study  of  every  intelligent 
man  and  woman.  To  such  it  is  not  only  a  privilege, 
but  a  duty,  "  to  search  all  things,  to  try  all  things,"  in 
order  that  they  may  "  hold  fast  that  which  is  good." 

Trinity  College,  Dublin, 
March,   1896. 


CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER.  PAGE. 

I.     Introductory      13 

II.     The  Homeric  Age 41 

III.  The  First  Two  Centuries  of  Histori- 

cal Development  in  Greece,  700- 
500  B.  C 68 

IV.  The   Passage   from   Sporadic   to  Sys- 

tematic  Culture.     The  Great 
Struggle  with  the  East    ....     106 

V.  The  Life  of  the  Nation  from  the 
Defeat  of  the  Persians  (479  B.  C. ) 
till  the  Fall  of  Imperial  Athens 
(404  B.C.) 133 

VI.     The  Fourth  Century  B.  C 165 

VII.     The  Fourth  Century  B.  C.  (Conti?iucd)  205 

VIII.     The   Time  of  Alexander   the   Great 

and  His   Early   Successors   .    .    .    223 

IX.     The  Hellenistic  World,  250-150  B.  C.   254 

X.     Greek  Culture  under  the  Romans  .     292 

Postscript 332 


The  required  books  of  the  C.  L.  S.  C  are  recommended  by  a 
Council  of  six.  It  must,  however,  be  understood  that 
recommendation  does  not  involve  an  approval  by  the  Coun- 
cil, or  by  any  member  of  it,  of  every  priticiple  or  doctrine 
contained  in  the  book  recommended. 


ILLUSTRATIONS. 

Lion  Gate  at  Mycenae Frontispiece. 

PAGE. 

Bee-hive  Tomb  Excavated  by  Mrs.  Schliemann    .    .  36 

Temple  at  P/estum     85 

Theseus  with  the  Marathonian  Bull 129 

Tanagra  Figurines 186 

Sculpture  of  the  Period  of  Phidias 207 

Sculpture    on    the    Sarcophagus    of  a  Sidonian 

King 238 

Gold  Cup  from  Mycenae     2S5 

General  View  of  Olympia 304 

Olympia  after  Excavations 327 


A  SURVEY  OF   GREEK    CIVILIZATION. 


CHAPTER    I. 

INTRODUCTORY. 

It  were  quite  idle  now,  in  the  closing  nineteenth  cen-    Italian  revival 

n  .  .        ,        .  of  interest  in 

tury,  to  waste  many  words  in  setting  forth  the  impor-    Greek 

......  civilization. 

tance  or  interest  of  Greek  history  and  civilization. 
Since  the  days  when  Lascaris  and  his  fellows  brought 
from  Constantinople  Greek  books  and  Greek  tastes,  the 
remnant  of  the  sack  of  the  Turks,  fugitive  and  needy, 
was  the  seed  which  grew  up  in  one  generation's  sowing 
into  the  magnificent  early  Renaissance  of  Italy.  It 
seduced  popes  from  their  piety,  princes  from  their  poli- 
tics, and  again  made  letters  and  art  one  of  the  first 
considerations  of  civilized  men.  Raphael  and  Michael 
Angelo  steeped  themselves  in  Greek  art  ;  they  searched 
for  it  with  eagerness  under  the  ruins  of  Roman  palaces, 
and  copied  it  with  the  faithfulness  of  genius.  The 
builders  of  the  matchless  Certosa  (near  Pavia)  almost  Art. 
make  us  condone  the  ruffian  Visconti's  vices;  the  sol- 
emn art  of  Borgognone  seems  almost  incompatible  with 
the  crimes  of  his  patron.  Then  comes  Machiavelli  with  Politics, 
his  reflex  of  Aristotle's  intricacies  in  politics,  Cellini 
with  his  revival  of  the  Alexandrian  toreutic,  not  to  speak 
of  the  new  creation  of  literary  style  by  the  long-for- 
gotten masterpieces  of  Plato,  Isocrates,  and  Demos-  Letters, 
thenes. 

All  these   things    are    now    commonplace,    but    what 
never  can  be  commonplace  is  to  contemplate  the  perma- 
nence   of   this    revival.      Waxing   indeed   and    waning, 
*  13 


n 


A  Survey  of  Greek   Civilization. 


Mi  idem  appre- 

i  iation  < 'i  t In- 
Greek  K<-'nius. 


No  feudalism 
in  Greek 
political  life. 


Difficulty  of 
giving  a  general 
presentation. 


misunderstood  and  travestied  by  the  builders,  the 
sculptors,  and  the  poets,  of  the  seventeenth  and  eigh- 
teenth centuries,  it  was  reserved  for  us  in  the  nineteenth 
to  turn  from  the  muddy  stream  and  seek  again  at  the 
pure  source  the  real  freshness  and  glory  of  what  the 
Greeks  had  produced.  And  so  in  our  day  we  have  not 
only  laid  aside  the  patch  and  powder  with  which  our 
grandfathers  had  thought  to  improve  the  natural  com- 
plexion of  Greek  art,  we  have  even  advanced  to  new 
discoveries  in  analyzing  the  subtleties  of  Greek  genius. 
The  builders  of  the  Madeleine  in  Paris  thought  it  a 
simple  thing  to  copy  the  Parthenon.  It  was  reserved 
for  the  marvelous  investigations  of  M.  Penrose  *  to 
show  us  that  these  builders  had  not  the  smallest  inkling 
of  the  recondite  art  by  which  Ictinus  designed  his 
masterpiece.  In  like  manner,  it  was  not  till  yesterday 
that  the  art  of  Demosthenes,  the  artifices  of  Theocritus 
and  his  fellows,  received  their  proper  appreciation.  It 
was  not  till  the  immortal  work  of  Grote  that  we  came  to 
understand  how  Greek  politics  are  not  like  the  politics 
of  medieval  Europe — the  cunning  of  the  priest,  the 
violence  of  the  baron,  the  cunning  violence  of  the  king 
—•but  in  theory  at  least  the  reasonable  discussion  of  the 
public,  the  final  decision  of  the  majority,  the  submission 
of  magistrates  and  rulers  to  the  will  of  the  sovereign 
people.  Modern  inquiry  has  sought  out  along  many 
paths  the  myriad  developments  of  Greek  intellect,  and 
there  is  a  great  library  of  special  researches  in  every 
European  language  recording  the  results.  To  gather 
up  the  sum  of  these  researches  into  one  broad  view, 
within  the  limits  of  one  volume,  is  indeed  a  task  of 
great   fascination,    but   is   due  rather   to  the  publishers' 


*  In  his  "  Principles  of  Athenian  Architecture,"  written  for  the  Society   of 
Dilettanti. 


Introductory. 


15 


boldness  than  to  the  author's  ambition.  In  such  a  task 
any  man  may  fail.  No  one  has  a  right  to  attempt  it 
who  cannot  conscientiously  say  that  he  has  lived  the 
long  summer  of  his  life  in  daily  contact  with  all  in  turn 
of  the  many  remains  still  extant  of  Greek  art,  politics, 
letters,  life,  speculation.  Such  an  one  may  even  come 
to  regard  it  as  an  act  of  duty,  in  the  autumn  of  his  days, 
to  stand  like  Homer's  royal  husbandman  at  the  head  of 
the  furrows,  resting  on  his  staff,  surveying  with  great 
contentment  the  rich  harvest  gathered  by  a  host  of  will- 
ing toilers. 

"  With  sweeping  stroke  the  mowers  strew  the  lands  ; 
The  gatherers  follow  and  collect  in  bands. 
The  rustic  monarch  of  the  field  descries, 
With  thankful  glee,  the  heaps  around  him  rise." 

Our  own  generation  has  seen  a  great  revolution  of 
opinion  regarding  the  epoch  when  the  earliest  civilized 
life  in  Greece  began.  It  used  to  be  perfectly  agreed 
upon  that  Homer  gave  us  the  earliest  picture.  In  him 
certainly  do  we  find  all  those  distinctive  excellencies 
which  are  only  found  in  Greek  life  and  in  Greek  letters. 
There  was  no  subsequent  generation  of  Greeks  which 
did  not  find  Homer  congenial,  Homer  natural,  Homer 
ancestral.  The  society  which  he  described  was  indeed 
in  many  respects  different  from  the  societies  of  historical 
days  ;  but  Grote  and  others  took  pains  to  show  that  the 
changes  arose  from  natural  development  ;  that  the 
agora  of  free  men  and  the  voice  of  public  opinion  * 
were   already  known    and    felt.     Though    Agamemnon    Homeric 

,      .  ..  ,  a     •    .     ^1  i_  •  monarchy  not 

asserted    in  a   line   known  to  Aristotle,    but   since   ex-   absolute, 
punged  by  offended  editors,  that  he  had  the  power  of 
life  and  death,  his  sovereignty  was  evidently  not  abso- 
lute but,  according  to  Thucydides's  words,  an  hereditary 

*  Described  as  "  some  one  said,"  when  citing  a  general  feeling. 


Beginnings  of 
Greek  civiliza- 
tion ;  date 
uncertain. 


i6 


A  Survey  of  Greek   Civilization. 


Date  of  Homer. 


Early  Greek 
history 

formerly  taken 
from  Homer. 


monarchy  with  defined  privileges.*  Accordingly  both 
ancients  and  moderns  were  agreed  to  accept  Homer  as 
the  commencement  of  Greek  history. 

But  what  age  does  this  imply?  It  used  to  be  the 
fashion  to  put  back  Homer  to  a  very  early  date.  The 
fall  of  Troy  was  set  down  according  to  the  chronology 
of  Eratosthenes— the  highest  Greek  authority — at  1104 
B.  C,  and  Homer  was  supposed  to  have  been  not  far 
removed  in  date  from  this  event,  for  did  he  not  know 
all  about  it  perfectly,  and  had  he  not  a  living  conception 
of  all  the  heroes  before  him  ?  Besides,  the  whole 
Homeric  society  went  to  pieces  in  consequence  of  the 
war,  and  had  not  the  poet  lived  close  to  the  time,  all  the 
intimate  knowledge  he  shows  would  have  been  lost  or 
dissipated  into  fragments  all  over  Greece.  We  may 
add  that  the  whole  society  described  in  the  poems 
differs  so  considerably  from  the  earliest  historical  Greeks 
shown  us  in  the  poems  of  Archilochus  and  the  elder 
Simonides,  that  a  long  gap  must  have  intervened  be- 
tween the  days  of  Agamemnon  and  the  days  of  Gyges 
the  Lydian,  with  his  Greek  friends  the  lyric  poets. 

It  used  therefore  to  be  maintained  that  we  had  at 
least  a  semi-historical  knowledge  of  Greek  society  and 
Greek  manners  as  far  back  as  1000  B.  C.  in  the  Iliad 
and  Odyssey.  All  the  'earlier  histories,  even  down  to 
Thirlwall's  and  Grote's,  began  by  giving  a  picture  of 
Homeric  society  from  this  point  of  view.  Grote  also 
gave  an  explicit  account  of  the  mythology  of  the  people, 
all  the  histories  and  adventures  of  their  gods,  as  evi- 
dence of  what  the  beliefs  of  the  nation  were,  and  what 
their  notions  of  things  spiritual  and  things  unseen".  He 
refused,  indeed,  to  allow  any  historical  value  to  these 
stories.      He  would  not  even  admit  that  we  had  in  them 


*  This  is  the  description  given  by  Aristotle  in  his  "  Politics." 


Introductory.  1 7 


a  distorted  account  of  early  physical  facts.  If  there  were 
physical  or  historical  facts  there,  no  man  could  separate 
them  from  the  fictions  which  surrounded  them.  They 
were  therefore  merely  evidences  of  the  people's  imagina- 
tion. He  might  very  well  have  added,  what  he  did  not 
appreciate,  that  even  the  stories  as  we  have  them  are 
made  up  by  later  and  artificial  processes,  and  by  later 
and  theoretical  writers,  who  strove  to  harmonize  legends 
which  were  various  and  inconsistent  in  the  hearts  of  the 
isolated  communities  that  made  up  the  Hellenic  nation. 
Herodotus  knew  this  so  well  that  he  asserted  Homer 
and  Hesiod  to  be  the  originators  of  the  theology  of  the   Homer  as  a 

.  ,  theologist. 

nation.  They  harmonized  the  legends,  fixed  the  names 
and  attributes  of  the  gods,  and  made  some  sort  of  sys- 
tem out  of  the  scattered  beliefs  of  the  people.  But  it 
need  hardly  be  stated  that  theology  only  as  old  as 
Homer  and  Hesiod  was  no  primitive  faith,  and  could 
give  us  no  picture  of  really  ancient  Greece.  Most  of 
our  legends  come  from  sources  far  later  even  than  these. 
And  as  regards  what  Homer  and  Hesiod  had  to  say, 
were  they  really  as  old  as  they  had  been  represented  ?  Homer  and 
Had  they  really  any  direct  or  close  knowledge  of  the  longer  taken  as 
society  of  the  tenth  century  before  Christ  ?  The  gen- 
eral drift  of  modern  criticism  has  led  us  to  deny  to  them 
this  position  ;  nay,  even  as  regards  Homer,  we  have 
come  to  deny  the  unity  of  authorship  of  the  Iliad  and 
Odyssey  ;    we    have  even  come    to    deny   the  unity  of  . 

authorship  of  the  Iliad,  and  see  in  both  poems  the  work  sins'e  author. 
of  a  school  or  succession  of  bards,  enlarging,  expanding, 
adorning  a  nucleus  originally  short  and  simple,  and  so 
gradually  producing,  under  the  heads  of  some  master- 
arranger,  at  the  close  of  a  long  development,  these  two 
great  poems,  whose  unity  is  only  artistic.  For  in  the 
Iliad  especially,  as  can  easily  be  shown,  inconsistencies 


i8 


A  Survey  of  Greek  Civilization. 


Traces  of 
combination 

of  earlier  and 
later  lays. 


The  skeptical 
school  of 
Homeric 
critics. 


are  frequent,  sutures  obvious,  and  the  traces  of  older 
and  shorter  lays  worked  into  a  plot  are  not  to  be  mis- 
taken. 

It  follows  at  once  that  some  parts  at  least  of  the 
Homeric  poems  are  the  work  of  later  hands,  who  had  no 
living  knowledge  even  of  the  society  which  produced 
the  earliest  and  simplest  lays.  These  later  bards  may 
have  written  as  antiquarians,  drawing  upon  their  imagi- 
nations for  their  facts.  They  did  not  live  at  any  very 
remote  age,  for  they  must  have  known  and  used  writing 
in  the  composition  of  these  long,  elaborate  epics  ;  and 
they  show  not  a  few  signs  of  artificiality.  Thus  modern 
criticism  has  reduced  the  historical  significance  of  the 
Homeric  poems  even  below  the  skeptical  position 
adopted  by  Grote.  There  arose  also  a  school  of  think- 
ers in  Germany,  of  whom  Professor  Max  M filler  was  the 
most  eminent  representative  in  England,  who  were  led 
by  their  speculations  on  comparative  mythology  to  deny 
any  historical  basis  whatever  to  the  story  of  the  siege 
of  Troy,  or  the  adventures  of  Ulysses.  The  human 
tragedies  ascribed  to  the  heroes  were  only  travesties  or 
misunderstandings  of  something  far  older  and  more 
universal,  the  phenomena  of  day  and  night,  of  the  rising 
and  setting  sun,  or  of  tempest  and  clear  weather. 
Though  this  theory  is  now  out  of  favor,  it  can  hardly  be 
said  to  be  yet  extinct,  so  I  may  here  quote  the  words  in 
which  I  criticised  it  more  than  twenty  years  ago,  when 
it  threatened,  like  the  rod  of  Aaron,  to  swallow  up  the 
rods  of  the  other  magicians  with  whom  it  came  in  con- 
flict : 


There  is  a  fallacy,  called  by  Archbishop  YVhately  the  thau- 
Fanciful  inter-      matropc  fallacy,    in   which  the    illusion  is    produced  by  rap- 

iiretation  of  .  ,,  .  ■      ,  r  -j      '  j 

mythology-.  idly  presenting  to  our  minds  a  series  of  separate  ideas,  and 

ringing  the  changes  on  them  till  we  are  confused  and  believe 


Introductory. 


19 


them  all  identical  or  connected.  A  logical  reader  is  strongly 
reminded  of  this  fallacy  when  he  finds  the  sun,  the  dawn,  the 
storm-clouds,  and  the  gloaming,  kept  going  like  a  number  of 
balls  in  a  juggler's  hand.  Any  hero  can  play  any  part.  If  he 
is  spoken  well  of  he  must  be  the  sun,  if  not,  he  is  the  night. 
Whether  he  murders  or  marries  or  deserts  a  maiden  or  a 
widow,  she  is  the  dawn.  What  is  still  more  unscientific,  if  he 
have  two  or  three  letters  of  his  name  identical  with  any  other 
mythical  name,  identity  of  character  is  asserted.  This  is  a  habit 
which  our  comparative  mythologers  ought  not  to  acquire,  see- 
ing that  even  the  most  advanced  comparative  mythologers  of 
Germany  cannot  forget  the  difficulties  before  them.  Even 
Professor  Max  Miiller  cannot  develop  his  theory  without  much 
hesitation.  Far  from  being  satisfied  with  any  random  simi- 
larity, he  professedly  requires  complete  identity  of  letters,  a 
knowledge  of  the  etymology,  and  even  an  identity  of  accent, 
before  he  is  satisfied.  Thus,  he  hesitates  about  Septemtriones* 
He  hesitates  about  Paris,  as  we  have  seen.  He  hesitates 
(though  little)  about  Hermes,  because  the  form  Herevieias 
does  not  occur.  He  hesitates  concerning  Aditi  having  the 
meaning  of  the  Infinite. f 

We  pass  to  the  psychological  argument,  which  bases  the 
whole  system  of  interpretation  by  the  sun  and  dawn  alone  on 
an  analysis  of  the  mental  condition  of  savages,  or  of  primitive 
races  ;  and  I  would  draw  special  attention  to  this  side  of  the 
theory,  which  has  hitherto  been  very  slightly  examined  by 
careful  critics.  Comparative  mythologers  draw  very  poetical 
and  very  detailed  pictures  of  these  historical  infants,  and  give 
us  to  understand  that  they  have  studied  their  habits  closely. 
"His  mental  condition  J  determined  the  character  of  his 
language,  and  that  condition  exhibits  in  him,  as  in  children 
now,  the  working  of  a  feeling  which  endows  all  outward 
things  with  a  life  not  unlike  his  own.     Of  the  several  objects 


Theory  of 
identity  of 
character. 


Psychological 
interpretation  of 
myths. 


Personification 
by  the  primi- 
tive mind. 


*  "  Lectures,"  II.,  page 365.  Though,  in  matters  of  the  kind,  it  is  impossible 
to  speak  very  positively,  it  seems  not  improbable  that  the  name  triones  may  be 
an  old  name  for  star  in  general. 

t  Cf.  ibid.,  II.,  500,  note.  "  This  is  doubtful,  but  I  know  no  better  etymol- 
ogy." The  reader  will  find  similar  caution  used  in  "Chips,"  II.,  page  133.  I 
may  add,  however,  that  the  greatest  of  Greek  etymologists,  G.  Curtius,  rejects 
many  of  the  derivations  which  even  M.  Max  Miiller  considers  sound.  So  far 
are  we  still  removed  from  the  judicial  inquiry  stage. 


X  That  is,  of  the  primitive  Aryan. 
Mythology,"  I.,  pages  42  so. 


The  quotation  is   from  Cox's  "Aryan 


20 


A  Survey  of  Greek  Civilization. 


Primitive 
attitude  to 
natural 
phenomena. 


Attributes  life 
to  every  aspect 
of  the  material 
world. 


Imagery- 


which  met  his  eye  he  had  no  positive  knowledge,  whether  of 
their  origin,  their  nature,  or  their  properties.  But  he  had  life, 
and  therefore  all  things  else  must  have  life  also.  He  was 
under  no  necessity  of  personifying  them,  for  he  had  for  him- 
self no  distinctions  between  consciousness  and  personality.  He 
knew  nothing  of  the  conditions  of  his  own  life  or  of  any  other, 
and  therefore  all  things  on  the  earth  or  in  the  heavens  were  in- 
vested with  the  same  vague  idea  of  existence.  The  sun,  the 
moon,  the  stars,  the  ground  on  which  he  trod,  the  clouds, 
storms,  and  lightnings  were  all  living  beings ;  could  he  help 
thinking  that,  like  himself,  they  were  conscious  beings  also  ? 
His  very  words  would,  by  an  inevitable  necessity,  express  this 
conviction.  His  language  would  admit  no  single  expression 
from  which  the  attribute  of  life  was  excluded,  while  it  would 
vary  the  forms  of  that  life  with  unerring  instinct.  Every  object 
would  be  a  living  reality,  and  every  word  a  speaking  picture. 
For  him  there  would  be  no  bare  recurrence  of  days  and 
seasons,  but  each  morning  the  dawn  would  drive  her  bright 
flocks  to  the  blue  pastures  of  heaven  before  the  birth  of  the 
lord  of  day  from  the  toiling  womb  of  night.  Round  the  living 
progress  of  the  new-born  sun  there  would  be  grouped  a  lavish 
imagery,  expressive  of  the  most  intense  sympathy  with  what 
we  term  the  operation  of  material  forces,  and  not  less  express- 
ive of  the  utter  absence  of  even  the  faintest  knowledge.  Life 
would  be  an  alternation  of  joy  and  sorrow,  of  terror  and  relief; 
for  every  evening  the  dawn  would  return  leading  her  bright 
flocks,  and  the  short-lived  sun  would  die.  Years  might  pass, 
or  ages,  before  his  rising  again  would  establish  even  the  weak- 
est analogy ;  but  in  the  meanwhile  man  would  mourn  for  his 
death,  as  for  the  loss  of  one  who  might  never  return.  For 
every  aspect  of  the  material  world  he  would  have  ready  some 
life-giving  expression  ;  and  those  aspects  would  be  scarcely 
less  varied  than  his  words.  The  same  object  would  at  different 
times,  or  under  different  conditions,  awaken  the  most  opposite 
or  inconsistent  conceptions.  But  these  conceptions  and  the 
words  which  expressed  them  would  exist  side  by  side  without 
producing  the  slightest  consciousness  of  their  incongruity  ;  nor 
is  it  easy  to  determine  the  exact  order  in  which  they  might 
arise.  The  sun  would  awaken  both  mournful  and  inspiriting 
ideas,  ideas  of  victory  and  defeat,  of  toil  and  premature  death. 
He  would  be  the  Titan,  strangling  the  serpents  of  the  night 


Introductory. 


2t 


before  he  drove  his  chariot  up  the  sky  ;  and  he  would  also  be 
the  being  who,  worn  down  by  unwilling  labor  undergone  for 
men,  sinks  wearied  into  the  arms  of  the  mother  who  bare  him 
in  the  morning.  Other  images  would  not  be  wanting  ;  the 
dawn  and  the  dew  and  the  violet  clouds  would  be  not  less  real 
and  living  than  the  sun.  In  his  rising  from  the  east  he  would 
quit  the  fair  dawn,  whom  he  should  see  no  more  till  his  labor 
drew  toward  its  close.  And  not  less  would  he  love  and  be 
loved  by  the  dew  and  by  the  morning  herself,  while  to  both  his 
life  would  be  fatal  as  his  fiery  car  rose  higher  in  the  sky.  So 
would  man  speak  of  all  other  things  also  ;  of  the  thunder  and 
the  earthquake  and  the  storm,  not  less  than  of  summer  and 
winter." 

From  what  source  is  this  picture  drawn  ?     Certainly  not  from    Contrast  with 
an  investigation  of  the  tribes  that  still  live  in  their  primitive    attitude  of 

....  ,.,,,_,.  .   .,  primitive  man 

condition  in  remote  quarters  of  the  globe.  I  nese  tribes,  as  we  know 
whether  they  roam  in  the  prairies  of  North  America  or  inhabit  him 
the  forests  of  India,  whether  crushed  in  their  development  by 
the  cold  of  Siberia  or  the  heat  of  Africa,  have  many  points  in 
common,  so  many  that  patient  inquirers  are  beginning  to  form 
some  general  idea  of  what  all  tribes  or  races  must  have  been  in 
their  earliest  condition.*  We  may  safely  assert  that  there  are 
no  cases  at  all  parallel  to  the  fancy  picture  of  the  mythologers. 
There  are  plenty  of  savages  that  worship  the  sun  and  moon, 
that  personify  moving  objects,  because  they  cannot  conceive 
motion  without  life,t  and  that  have  formed  myths  about  physi- 
cal phenomena.  But  we  look  in  vain  for  all  this  wonderful  riot 
of  imagination  about  the  daily  operations  of  nature,  this  terrible 
anguish  about  an  ordinary  sunset,  this  outburst  of  joy  in  the 
summer  dawn,  when  their  nightly  grief  had  scarce  lulled  them 
to  sleep. 

In    this    argument    I    had    not    perhaps   given    stress   Appeal  to 

°  actual  relics  of 

enough  to  the  query  which  ought  to  be  set  to  every  civilization 
such  hypothesis   to   answer.      Why  were  all   the  great 


*  If  it  be  objected  that  these  tribes  belong  to  lower  races,  without  answering 
the  assumption  of  an  original  difference  of  race,  it  may  fairly  be  retorted  that 
there  is  no  evidence  of  any  higher  intelligence  in  the  original  Aryans  than  in 
the  present  New  Zealanders. 

i*So  Schoolcraft  says  of  the  Red  Indian  totem  (Vol.  II.,  page  49),  "  It  is 
always  some  animated  object,  and  seldom  or  never  derived  from  the  inani- 
mate class  of  nature."  The  widely  spread  worship  of  sacred  stones  appears 
to  be  symbolical,  and  not  due  to  the  attribution  to  them  of  life. 


22  A  Survey  of  Greek   Civilization. 


I  ii  m  i  ".ate  at 
Mycenae. 


Excavation 
should  have 
prei  eded 
theory. 


Prehistoric 
evidence  not 
specially 
significant. 


legends  grouped  about  a  few  sites — Troy,  Mycenae, 
Tiryns  ?  Were  there  no  historical  facts  which  made 
such  a  localization  not  only  likely  but  necessary  ?  It  is 
very  strange  indeed  that  this  very  natural  question  was 
not  answered  by  the  learned  who  discussed  the  matter, 
as  it  ought  to  have  been,  by  an  appeal  to  the  spade. 
The  old  Lion  Gate  at  Mycenae  was  long  and  well 
known,  and  it  was  quite  plain  that  here  at  least  was  the 
seat  of  some  ancient  grandee,  who  should  have  left  be- 
hind him  some  farther  traces  of  his  splendor.  Could 
we  identify  him  with  Agamemnon  who  had  ruled  there 
according  to  the  Iliad?  What  about  Troy,  the  seat 
of  Priam's  wealthy  kingdom  ?  What  about  Tiryns  and 
Orchomenus,  both  well-identified  sites,  both  showing 
traces  of  massive  and  antique  building  ?  That  learned 
men,  discussing  with  zeal  and  even  with  passion  the 
possibilities  of  the  question,  should  never  have  con- 
descended to  adjourn  their  disputes  till  they  had  investi- 
gated the  various  sites  to  which  the  Iliad  and  Odyssey 
are  attached  by  their  authors,  shows  how  men  of  books 
prefer  victory  in  an  argument  to  a  conquest  of  new 
facts  and  a  superseding  of  threadbare  discussions  by  real 
discoveries.  But  at  last  "the  time  came,  and  the  man." 
I  need  not  delay  here  upon  the  evidences  of  human 
occupation  of  the  Hellenic  peninsula  long  before  civiliza- 
tion. Flint  arrow-heads  and  rude  hand-made  pottery 
are  found  all  over  Europe,  and  contain  in  them  nothing 
distinctive  of  a  race.  There  were  even  found  under  the 
lava  of  Santorin,  a  volcanic  island  in  the  Levant  (beside 
the  ancient  Thera)  engulfed  houses,  a  sort  of  prehistoric 
Pompeii,  with  some  skeletons,  gold  ornaments,  axes, 
and  other  remains  of    primitive    industry.*     But  these 


*Cf.  Fouque\  "  Santorin  et  ses  Eruptions  "  (Paris,  1879)  or  Busolt's  (German) 
"  History  of  Greece,"  Vol.  I.,  page  51  sq.  (2d  edition,  Gotha,  1893). 


Introductory. 


23 


and  the  other  flint  remains  of  Greece  are  not  to  be 
compared  in  perfection  with  those  discovered  in  the 
terramare  of  Reggio  di  Emilia  in  north  Italy,  and 
which  the  traveler  now  admires  in  the  wonderful 
museum  of  the  Collegio  Romano  at  Rome.  If  we 
judged  from  mere  flint-heads,  the  natives  of  northern 
Italy  ought  to  have  easily  outstripped  the  natives  of  the 
Hellenic  peninsula. 

But  these  things  need  not  here  concern  us.  Let  us 
turn  to  the  momentous  discoveries  made  by  the  late  Dr. 
Schliemann  on  the  sites  of  the  cities  marked  out  in  the 
Homeric  poems,  as  the  capitals  or  strongholds  of 
monarchs  who  controlled  the  people  around  them. 
Here  we  ought  to  find,  not  mere  savage  tools  and 
ornaments,  but  the  remains  of  the  inventions  and  luxu- 
ries of  a  more  developed  society.  Schliemann  under- 
took much  more  than  this.  With  the  enthusiasm 
which  seldom  dwells  in  the  heart  of  the  thoroughly 
scientific  investigator,  he  hoped  to  find  the  actual  palace 
of  Agamemnon,  the  actual  scenery  of  the  city  of  Troy, 
where  Priam  and  Paris,  Hector  and  ^Eneas,  once 
stalked  through  the  echoing  streets.  It  seemed  for  a 
season  that  his  wildest  expectations  were  realized.  He 
found  at  Hissarlik,  which  his  intuitive  genius  told  him 
to  be  the  true  site  of  Troy,  the  remains  of  a  burnt 
palace,  the  weapons  of  primitive  warfare,  the  jewels 
of  queens,  the  worn  querns  of  slaves.  He  found  that 
layer  after  layer  had  been  piled  upon  the  chosen  site,  as 
if  men  could  not  tear  themselves,  in  spite  of  the  grim 
associations  of  fire  and  sword,  from  the  long-settled 
spot,  to  which  the  temples  of  gods  and  the  graves  of 
ancestors  bound  them  with  invisible,  but  indissoluble 
fetters.  His  brilliant  diagnosis  revealed  to  recalcitrant 
pedants,  not  only  that  he  had  found  the  true  site  of  the 


Schliemann's 
excavations  of 
Homeric  sites. 


Hissarlik  the 
site  of  Trov. 


24 


A  Survey  of  Greek   Civilization. 


Historical 
liasis  for  the 
Iliad. 


Schliemann's 
discoveries  at 
Mycenae. 


Homer 

confirmed. 


renowned  city,  but  that  the  Iliad  of  Homer  had  a  dis- 
tinct historical  basis,  apart  from  the  superstructures  of 
fancy.  Even  if  Achilles  was,  as  some  fancied,  the  sun, 
and  Helen  the  dawn,  these  primitive  personifications 
had  been  attached  to  a  distinct  local  habitation,  and 
connected  with  a  great  conflict  among  real  men. 

If  these  general  conclusions  required  the  confirmation 
of  another  instance,  Schliemann  supplied  it  by  his 
second  and  more  brilliant  discovery  at  Mycenae.  Here 
again,  on  the  alleged  site  of  Homeric  grandeur,  he 
found  the  tombs  of  kings,  the  treasures  of  a  rich 
monarchy,  the  colossal  building  of  countless  human 
hands.  The  Homeric  epithets  of  very-golden  Mycenae 
and  much-fortified  Tiryns  were  confirmed  by  facts. 
Kings'  palaces  were  discovered  with  no  mean  remnants 
of  art,  no  mean  control  of  the  most  massive  materials. 
Here  then  was  the  palace  of  Agamemnon,  king  of  men  ; 
from  hence  he  set  out  with  the  combined  forces  of 
the  Morea  for  the  East.  Thus  again  Homer  seemed 
perfectly  justified,  and  the  Iliad,  etc.,  assumed  an 
aspect  of  freshness  and  reality,  which  it  had  lost  amid 
the  rude  handling  of  the  men  of  books.  But  those  who 
had  been  trained  to  estimate  evidence  kept  counselling 
caution,  and  a  postponement  of  our  decision  upon  these 
gigantic  additions  to  our  evidence.  For  while  there 
were  on  the  one  hand  enthusiasts,  who  accepted  the 
whole  discovery  as  a  mere  material  confirmation  of  the 
Homeric  story,  so  there  were  other  far  more  silly 
people,  fastidious  skeptics,  who  would  not  believe  that 
even  the  site  of  Homeric  Troy  had  been  discovered,  and 
who  ventured  to  affirm  that  the  Mycenaean  tombs  were 
of  medieval  construction.  These  fatuous  judgments  are 
now  well-nigh  forgotten,  especially  by  the  men  who 
once  held  them,  and  the  archaic  character  of  the  remains 


Introductory. 


25 


of  both  Troy  and  Mycenae  is  as  well  established  as  is  the 
certainty  that  at  Hissarlik  the  Homeric  poets  knew  of  a 
fortified  city,  and  that  that  city  was  wasted  by  a  victo- 
rious enemy. 

This  historical  sketch  of  the  discovery  is  necessary  be- 
fore we  approach  the  problems  which  it  suggests,  and 
which  are  the  proper  subject  of  this  book.  What  evi- 
dence do  the  remains  of  Troy,  Mycenae,  and  Tiryns 
afford  us  of  the  life  and  civilization  of  their  early  inhabi- 
tants ?  If  these  are  indeed  the  places  celebrated  in 
Homeric  story,  how  do  their  contents  agree  with  the 
data  of  the  Homeric  poems  ?  Can  we  fit  together  the 
palace  of  Mycenae,  its  walls,  its  treasures,  its  tombs, 
with  the  portrait  of  Agamemnon  in  the  Iliad  ?  Can  we 
do  the  same  in  the  case  of  Priam  and  our  newly  dis- 
covered Troy?  If  so  we  might  indeed  rewrite  the  first 
chapter  of  ' '  Social  Life  in  Greece, ' '  and  fill  up  countless 
gaps  left  in  our  literary  evidence  from  the  materials  sup- 
plied by  the  fortunate  excavator. 

But  the  longer  the  evidence  was  examined,  the  more 
thoroughly  it  was  sifted,  the  more  clearly  did  we  see  the 
astounding  conclusion  coming  out  of  the  mist,  that  in 
Schliemann's  Troy,  his  Mycenae,  in  Homer's  Iliad,  in 
the  Odyssey,  we  have  four  distinct  strata  of  civiliza- 
tion—  the  first  three  separated  from  each  other  by  long 
intervals  of  time  and  profound  differences  of  character. 
Instead,  therefore,  of  filling  up  our  Homeric  picture 
of  Greek  life,  these  discoveries  reveal  to  us  in  hard  facts 
what  we  had  long  since  inferred  from  literary  argu- 
ments,* that  the  society  of  the  Iliad  and  the  Odyssey 
was  not  a  primitive  society,  but  the  waning  phase  of 
an  older  civilization,  to  which  the  poets  looked  back  as 
a  greater  and  stronger  age  ;  a  time  of  retrospect  and  of 

*  Cf.  my  "Social  Life  in  Greece,''  Chapters  I.  ami  II. 


Questions 
suggested  by 
the  excava- 
tions. 


Evidence  from 
excavations  of 
Troy,  Mycenae, 
and  Tiryns. 


Schliemann's 
Troy  not  the 
actual  Troy  of 
Homer. 


26 


A  Survey  of  Greek   Civilization. 


Inferiority  of 
remains  at 
Troy  to  those 
at  Mycenae. 


regret,  tainted  even  with  traces  of  that  Weltschmerz 
which  mars  the  simple  faith  of  Herodotus,  which  em- 
bitters the  skepticism  of  Euripides. 

From  the  very  outset,  all  of  us  who  examined  dis- 
passionately the  remains  of  that  layer  of  building  which 
Schliemann  called  the  Homeric  city  were  astonished 
and  disconcerted  by  two  facts.  In  the  first  place,  the 
fortified  enclosure  was  so  much  smaller  than  what  Homer 
had  led  us  to  expect,  that  it  seemed  rather  a  fortified 
palace  and  fort  than  a  city  with  streets  and  a  consider- 
able population.  Secondly,  the  pottery,  weapons,  walls, 
all  appeared  very  rude  and  primitive  for  a  place  so  rich 
and  long  settled  as  the  city  of  Priam.  Those  who  com- 
pared all  that  was  said  about  Mycenae  with  what  was  said 
about  Troy  in  Homer,  had  inferred  that  the  latter  was 
the  richer  and  the  more  luxurious,  the  outcome  of 
longer  growth  and  greater  luxury.  The  remains  told  us 
a  very  different  story.  The  pottery  especially  was  much 
ruder  at  Hissarlik,  most  of  it  hand-made  and  not  wheel- 
made,  nor  was  there  that  advanced  or  peculiar  finish 
which  is  now  recognized  in  Mycenaean  ware.  A  glance 
through  the  many  specimens  in  Schliemann' s  "  Ilios  " 
and  a  comparison  with  those  in  his  "Mycenae"  will 
make  this  obvious  to  the  student.  So  far,  then,  the 
remains  did  not  corroborate  the  Iliad.  The  whole  as- 
pect of  the  fort  of  Pergamum  was  older  and  ruder.  Not 
every  antiquarian  has  the  courage  of  his  convictions,  and 
so  the  open  assertion  of  this  discrepancy  was  only  made 
here  and  there  by  those  of  us  who  were  not  afraid 
or  ashamed  to  retract  a  false  move,  or  confess  an  error. 
Within  the  last  two  years,  however,  we  have  had  the 
tions  prove  that   satisfaction  of  a  brilliant  corroboration  from  the  later  re- 

Schliemar.n  5 

Troyisoider       searches  of  Professor  Dbrpfeld.      He  has  now  made  it 

than  Mycenae.  * 

quite  plain  that  we  were  right  in  holding  Schliemann  s 


Latest  excava- 


Introductory. 


27 


Troy  to  be  older  and  ruder  than  the  ruins  of  Mycenae 
and  Tiryns.  For  outside  the  "second  city"  at  Hissar- 
lik,  with  a  larger  area  and  far  more  advanced  construc- 
tion, he  has  found  the  stratum  of  building  which  corre- 
sponds with  the  Greek  palaces,  and  which  held  a  similar 
and  synchronous  population.  Above  all,  he  has  found 
here  that  Mycenaean  pottery  which  is  so  distinctive  a 
feature  in  the  prehistoric  remains  of  Argolis  and  the 
islands.  Really  rude  and  primitive  pottery  proves  no 
affinity  ;  all  simple  men  in  their  first  attempts  at  mak- 
ing vessels  of  clay  follow  the  same  process.  Rudeness 
of  this  kind  is  not  even  by  itself  a  clear  proof  of  an- 
tiquity, for  there  is  nothing  more  common  than  neo- 
barbarism,  or  such  want  of  development  that  men 
continue  to  make  in  the  same  fashion  without  alteration 
or  improvement  for  myriads  of  years.  When  I  was  in 
Nubia  in  1893  I  used  to  buy  from  the  native  women 
baskets  of  Haifa  grass  not  differing  in  one  feature  of  ma- 
terial, design,  or  color  from  the  baskets  we  find  in  the 
tombs  about  the  pyramids  in  Egypt,  five  thousand  years 
old.  But  when  we  come  to  exceptional  color  and  dis- 
tinctive pattern,  the  case  alters  immediately.  The  dif- 
ference in  pottery,  therefore,  between  Schliemann's 
interior  city  and  Dbrpfeld's  outer  circle  is  in  itself  con- 
clusive. 

The  general  result,  however,  disposes  of  the  claim  of 
Schliemann's  city  to  any  further  place  in  this  book.  He 
had  found  not  the  town  of  Priam  and  the  Iliad,  or  even 
of  the  age  and  development  of  Tiryns  and  Mycenae,  per- 
haps seven  centuries  anterior  to  Homer,  but  a  far  more 
antique  and  primitive  fort,  dating  at  the  most  moderate 
estimate  not  less  than  2,500  years  before  the  birth  of 
Christ  !  To  call  such  a  city  Greek,  to  assume  that 
its  inhabitants  spoke  or  thought  like  Greeks,   or  even 


Primitive 
pottery  not 
necessarily  of 
significance. 


Proof  from 
difference  of 
pottery  in  case 
of  Troy. 


Schliemann's 
Troy  much 
older  than  the 
Iliad. 


28 


A  Survey  of  Greek   Civilization. 


Lesson  to  be 
leai  in  il  from 
Schliemann's 
Troy. 


Great  antiquity 
of  civilization 
round  the 
/Egean  Sea. 


Importance  of 
this  for  the 
generation  that 
followed. 


Mvcenrv. 


were  the  spiritual  forefathers  of  Homer's  Trojans,  is 
beyond  the  demands  to  be  made  upon  any  reasonable 
imagination.*  We  may  lay  this  piece  of  evidence  aside, 
with  one  lesson,  however,  deeply  engraved  upon  our 
minds.  As  civilization  of  some  kind  was  vastly  older 
upon  the  Hill  of  Troy  than  any  of  us  had  imagined, 
so  the  site  of  every  historic  city  is  likely  to  have  been 
the  habitation  of  countless  generations.  When  once 
settled  with  local  gods,  and  surrounded  by  the  tombs  of 
ancestors,  it  is  not  likely  to  have  been  abandoned  in 
spite  of  siege  and  capture,  of  massacre  and  conflagration. 
A  remnant  of  the  population  always  escapes  from  such 
catastrophes  and  reoccupies  the  place,  though  the  fire 
and  blood-stained  ruins  must  be  levelled  for  new  founda- 
tions. Thus  we  may  assume  that  the  great  majority 
of  cities  in  Greece  and  Asia  Minor,  which  were  cele- 
brated in  history,  were  built  upon  layers  and  layers 
of  older  debris,  through  which  we  may  reach,  in  the 
case  of  hill  fortresses,  to  the  original  rock.  The  civiliza- 
tion round  the  y£gean  is  therefore  very  old,  older  than 
any  of  us  had  suspected  thirty  years  ago,  and  the 
sudden  and  marvelous  bloom  of  Greek  life  came  after 
millenniums  of  obscure  and  forgotten  effort.  Obscure 
and  forgotten  indeed,  but  not  for  that  reason  without  its 
effect.  For  if  the  race  was  not  changed,  there  grew 
up  in  these  remote  and  unchronicled  ages  the  habit 
of  work,  the  sense  of  striving  after  higher  ends,  the  long- 
ing for  progress,  which  produced  their  secret  effects 
upon  future  generations.  This  is  the  mystery  of  atavism. 
When  we  come  to  the  remains  of  Mycenae,  we  are 
nearer  to  our  subject.  No  doubt  there  is  at  Troy  a 
stratum  yet  to  be  examined  more  minutely,  which  will 

•This  is  the  sort  of  anachronism  perpetrated  by  Professor  Ebers  in  his  popu- 
lar novel  "  Uarda."  He  makes  the  Greek  adventurers  of  the  time  of  Ramses 
II.  (1350  B.  C.)  as  refined  and  advanced  as  the  Greeks  of  the  fifth  century  B.  C. 


Introductory.  29 

correspond  with  what  we  shall  now  discuss.  But  as  yet 
Dr.  Dorpfeld  has  found  too  little  to  be  of  any  use  for 
our  purpose.  The  reader  will  wonder  how  we  can 
speak  with  any  confidence  about  the  manners  of  a 
society  so  little  known,  so  little  suspected  till  the  revela- 
tions of  Dr.  Schliemann's  spade.  Let  us  take  up  the 
evidence  of  pottery.  Look  at  the  few  specimens  of  Evidence  from 
painted  vases  in  Schliemann's  book.  You  will  see  at 
once  the  family  likeness  to  the  archaic  pots  found  at 
Athens  and  other  places  dating  from  the  sixth  century 
before  Christ.  Not  only  are  the  costumes  of  the  war- 
riors analogous,  but  the  drawing  of  the  figures,  the  rude 
attempts  to  represent  violent  action,  the  utter  ignorance 
and  disregard  of  what  we  consider  beauty  of  face  and 
figure.  Look  again  at  the  carved  reliefs  upon  the 
sepulchral  stones  found  over  the  graves  at  Mycenae. 
You  will  see  things  not  very  dissimilar  in  the  old  reliefs 
found  at  Sparta,  and  now  preserved  in  the  interesting 
museum  of  that  town.  A  strong  family  likeness  is 
there.  A  closer  examination  of  the  palace  of  Tiryns 
showed  likewise  that  the  general  arrangements  of  the   paiaceat 

.  1         •   1      tt  -i  •     ._•  Tirvns  similar 

rooms  were  such  as  agreed  with  Homeric  descriptions,  to  Homeric 
The  one  very  distinctive  feature  of  the  house  building  pa' 
was  the  construction  of  the  doorways.  This  was  the 
model  of  every  early  temple  doorway  in  historical 
Greece.  These  suggestions  are  enough  for  the  moment 
to  show  the  reader  what  I  mean  by  saying  that  we  may 
now  fairly  consider  not  Hissarlik,  but  the  remains  of 
Tiryns  and  Mycenae,  together  with  the  tombs  of  Menidi, 
Spata,  etc.,  as  belonging  to  the  direct  forerunners  of 
the  Homeric  heroes. 

I  say  direct,  not  immediate,  for  in  my  opinion  there   Two  stages  of 
was  a  long  progress  of  culture  in  Greece  during  this  pre-   traceabie°at 
historic  time.     There  are  two  distinct  stages  at  Mycenae.    *  >CI 


3o 


A  Survey  of  Greek   Civilization. 


Evidence  from 
the  tombs. 


The  "  bee- 
hive "  tombs. 


This  is  proved  by  the  tombs.  Those  recently  found  by 
Schliemann  were  deep  shaft-graves,  with  inadequate 
room  to  lay  out  the  dead,  which  were  huddled  or 
crushed  into  their  resting  place,  though  covered  with 
gold  masks  and  piled  about  with  precious  cups  and 
ornaments  of  gold,  silver,  and  bronze.  Never  was  there 
a  more  painful  contrast  between  the  treatment  of  the 
actual  body  and  the  splendid  gifts  which  were  lavished 
upon  it.  These  people  seem  to  have  built  their  walls  of 
small  rubble,  without  finish  or  elegance,  though  their 
vessels  of  gold  and  silver,  and  their  ornaments,  were 
both  costly  and  highly  finished.  Those  of  the  gold  and 
silver  cups,  the  famous  cow's  head,  and  a  vase  of  alabas- 
ter, are  as  good  as  they  would  be  in  any  age  of  Greek 
history.  Let  us  call  these  people  for  convenience'  sake 
the  Dynasty  of  the  Perseids  or  descendants  of  Perseus, 
whom  Greek  legend  makes  the  earliest  occupant  of 
Mycenae.  But  these  according  to  the  legend  were  ousted 
by  the  Pelopids,  which  name  we  may  apply  to  the  sec- 
ond race  of  very  superior  builders,  who  made  the  great 
''bee-hive"  tombs,  known  as  the  Treasury  of  Atreus 
and  its  fellows.  These  tombs  have  all  been  rifled  long 
ago,  so  that  we  cannot  tell  what  ornaments  the  Pelopids 
laid  beside  the  dead  in  their  roomy  and  stately  chambers. 
But  from  the  fact  that  they  covered  the  inside  surface 
of  the  dome  with  plates  of  polished  bronze,  and  from  the 
fact  that  analogous  tombs  at  Orchomenus  and  at 
Amyclae  (south  of  Sparta)  have  shown  us  graceful 
monuments,  and  at  least  one  gold  cup  with  designs 
good  enough  for  the  Italian  Renaissance,  we  may  con- 
clude that  as  in  building  they  far  exceeded  the  Perseids, 
so  in  the  elegance  of  their  household  vessels  they  were 
at  least  their  equals.  To  excel  even  the  older  cups 
w<  »uld  not  be  easy. 


Introductory. 


3i 


In  one  respect  both  Perseids  and  Pelopids  are  silent 
forever.  They  possessed  neither  the  art  of  writing  nor 
the  art  of  coining.  Believing  as  I  did  that  both  Mycenae 
and  Tiryns  were  destroyed  to  consolidate  Argos,  and 
that  this  happened  in  the  eighth  or  early  seventh  century 
B.  C,  I  had  predicted  to  Schliemann  that  he  would 
find  neither  inscriptions  nor  coins,  and  so  it  turned  out. 
Had  the  story  told  by  late  writers  and  copied  into 
modern  books  been  true,*  there  must  infallibly  have 
been  both  found  in  plenty  at  either  place.  There  was 
in  fact  a  bag  of  late  Tirynthian  coins  found  by  Schlie- 
mann which  dated  from  a  poor  little  re-settlement  in 
Macedonian  days.  But  alas  !  so  far  as  we  can  safely 
infer,  the  splendor  of  both  these  royal  abodes  was 
recorded  in  no  written  form.  If  ancient  bards  sang 
their  praises,  they  were  only  like  the  earliest  Celtic 
bards  of  medieval  days,  who  could  remember  and  recite, 
but  could  not  write.  We  are  therefore  left  to  imagine 
what  we  can  of  the  life  of  these  earliest  civilized  occu- 
pants of  Hellenic  soil  from  the  material  remains  of  their 
architecture  and  their  art,  and  from  the  far-off  echoes 
which  this  long  past  period  carried  onward  into  Homeric 
song.  For,  as  we  already  insisted,  the  loci  around  which 
the  later  bards  fixed  their  story  were  all  the  actual  seats 
of  an  ancient  and  splendid  royalty. 

Perhaps  the  first  thing  which  strikes  us  when  we 
examine  the  designs  and  workmanship  on  the  palaces, 
or  in  the  matchless  Mycenaean  room  in  the  museum  at 
Athens,  is  that  there  are  unmistakable  evidences  of 
foreign  influence.  The  occurrence  of  an  ostrich  egg, 
probably  adorned  and  used  as  a  cup,  in  the  remains  of 
Mycenae  would  in  itself  put  the  matter  beyond  doubt. 

*I  mean  the  citations  from  Diodorus  and  Strabo  and  the  fact  that  so-called 
Mycenaeans  and  Tirynthians  (of  course  exiles)  fought  with  the  patriotic  side  in 
the  Persian  wars. 


Writing  and 

coinage 

unknown. 


Lack  of 
written  records. 


Echoes  of  this 
earlier  civiliza- 
tion in  Homer. 


Ostrich  egg  at 
Mycenae. 


32 


A  Survey  of  Greek   Civilization. 


Evidence  from 

decorative 

design. 


Oriental  influ- 
ence. 


Route  of 
traders  de- 
termined by 
pottery  in  the 
islands. 


But  there  is  a  great  deal  more  than  this  stray  importa- 
tion. One  of  the  most  notable  designs  for  ornamenting 
surfaces  at  Mycenae  is  what  many  call  the  repeated 
spiral.  This  very  pattern  I  found  on  the  ceiling  of  a 
rock  temple  or  shrine  at  Kasr  Ibrim,  and  again  as  the 
pattern  on  a  queen's  dress  in  the  Horus  Temple  at  Wadi 
Haifa  (both  in  Nubia).  These  temples  date  from  the 
Eighteenth  Dynasty  of  Pharaohs — from  Amenophis  II. 
and  Tothmes  III.  We  may  therefore  safely  ascribe 
this  widespread  design  to  the  fifteenth  century  B.  C, 
and  as  it  is  not  reasonably  to  be  assumed  that  the 
builders  of  Mycenae  carried  it  to  Egypt,  we  may  con- 
clude that  Egyptian  workmen  brought  it  to  Greece. 
Thus  the  ancient  legend  which  tells  us  that  Danaus 
came  with  his  daughters  from  Egypt  to  Argos  finds  its 
unexpected  support  in  fact,  and  we  are  taught  not  to 
despise  the  general  indications  given  us  by  popular 
tradition.  But  as  these  stories  also  tell  us  of  Cadmus 
coming  from  Phenicia,  so  there  are  oriental — Assyrian 
and  Syrian — influences  to  be  seen  in  the  Mycenaean 
designs,  especially  upon  the  seal  rings  which  seem  to 
me  simple  importations. 

Even  the  route  by  which  merchandise  came  from  the 
East  in  those  days  can  now  be  determined.  Along  a 
particular  row  of  islands,  reaching  from  Argos  to 
Rhodes,  are  still  found  frequent  specimens  of  that 
special  pottery  called  Mycenaean,  which  prove  that  this 
was  the  track  of  an  ancient  commerce.  But  what  is  far 
more  remarkable,  as  showing  the  force  of  old  traditions 
in  the  Iliad,  is  the  fact  that  this  very  series  of  islands, 
which  would  naturally  belong  to  the  Trojan  confederacy, 
send  their  troops  to  fight  under  Agamemnon's  banner. 
We  may  therefore  assume  with  certainty  that  whatever 
refinement  can  be  imported  with  delicate  and  expressive 


Introductory.  33 

foreign  luxuries,  was  brought  by  Phenician  or  Egyptian 
ships  to  the  coasts  of  Hellas.  The  Phenician  traders  Traders  in  the 
who  appear  in  the  Iliad  and  Odyssey  are  mere  pirates  Odyssey. 
and  slave-dealers,  who  bring  foreign  wares  with  them  as 
a  cloak  to  hide  a  bait  to  promote  their  real  designs. 
But  when  foreign  kings  ruled  at  Mycenae  these  traders 
were  probably  of  a  higher  class,  and  more  respectable. 
From  them  the  natives  learned  the  arts  of  making 
delicate  pottery,  smelting  metals,  building  with  cut 
stone — all  of  which  require  considerable  skill  ;  and  we 
can  still  follow  the  development  of  a  native  art  from 
these  beginnings.  As  regards  their  political  and 
spiritual  condition,  we  can  only  tell  from  the  gigantic 
forts  and  palaces  which  they  built,  from  the  huge  masses 
of  stone  which  they  moved,  and  from  the  utter  absence 
of  smaller  dwellings  of  importance,  around  the  king's 
seat,  that  these  people  lived  under  a  despotism,  which  Evidences  of 
made  them  perform  heavy  tasks,  and  which  put  their 
lives  and  property  into  a  master's  hand.  There  was  a 
time  of  which  Aristotle  still  read  in  his  Iliad — the 
Alexandrian  critics  since  expunged  it — "in  my  hand  is 
life  and  death,"  which  is  an  echo  of  this  earlier  condi- 
tion. The  Agamemnon  known  in  our  Iliad  could  hardly 
have  dared  to  assert  this  right.  But  he  does  offer  to 
hand  over  cities  with  their  inhabitants  as  a  gift  to 
another  chieftain — a  state  of  things  long  after  common 
in  the  Persian  Empire,  then  in  the  kingdoms  of  Alexan- 
der's successors.  This  actual  disposing  of  men's 
allegiance  with  their  property  is  another  distinct  echo  of 
the  old  absolute  sovereignty. 

Aristotle  indeed  thought  that  the  earliest  monarchies   Earliest  Greek 
in    Greece,    bestowed   on   foreigners   who    had   brought   hereditaryS 
useful  arts  into  Greece,  were  both  hereditary  and  limited   AristSief t0 
in  their  privileges.      To  make  a  monarchy  hereditary  is 


34  A  Survey  of  Greek  Civilization. 


the  instinct  of  all  early  societies.  Whether  the  limita- 
tion of  privileges  was  indeed  an  original  feature,  and  not 
a  boon  extorted  by  long  agitation  and  by  taking  advan- 
tage of  foreign  help,  I  greatly  doubt. 

It  remains  to  say  something  about  the  religion  of  this 
Mycenaean  civilization.  There  are,  so  far  as  I  know, 
only  two  means  of  attaining  to  the  slightest  knowledge 
on  this  point.  How  indeed  can  a  people  who  had  no 
records,  who  have  not  left  one  word  of  writing,  who 
were  observed  by  no  external  witness,  tell  us  aught 
concerning  their  inner  life  ?  The  only  two  possible 
scraps  of  evidence  are:  (i)  the  idols  which  we  find 
among  their  household  stuff,  like  the  gods  which  Rachel 
concealed  from  Laban  (Genesis  XXXI.  30,  35)  ;  (2) 
the  treatment  of  the  dead.  As  regards  the  first  we  have 
from  Troy  a  large  number  of  the  rude  owl-headed  deity 
whom  Schliemann  identified  with  Glankopis  Athene. 
He  advanced  to  a  new  translation  of  Glaukopis,  which  we 
had  rendered  gray-eyed,  declaring  it  to  be  owl-headed* 

But  we  already  found  that  the  Troy  of  Schliemann  is 
something  long  antecedent  to  the  Troy  of  Homer,  or 
even  of  the  Mycenaean  period.  In  the  remains  of 
Mycenae  and  of  Tiryns  I  am  not  aware  that  little  idols 
are  at  all  so  frequent,  but  still  there  are  not  wanting 
little  images  used  probably  as  fetishes  or  amulets,  which 
would  naturally  imply  a  very  low  state  of  spiritual 
development,  did  we  not  see  even  in  modern  times 
amulets  and  charms  of  various  kinds  used  in  the  same 
way  as  the   fetish   of  the  savage. t     If  we    had  the  re- 

*  As  my  readers  are  not  supposed  to  understand  Greek.  I  need  not  enter 
upon  an  explanation  of  this  difference  in  the  rendering  of  a  simple,  undisputed 
word.  But  they  may  believe  me  that  it  is  so,  and  that  the  word  may  have 
passed  from  the  latter  meaning  to  the  former. 

fAsan  illustration  of  the  fact  that  such  superstition  is  not  confined  to  the 
ignorant  and  uneducated,  I  may  state  that  I  have  quite  recently  known  a 
woman  born  of  educated  parents,  and  married  to  a  member  of  the  British  Par- 
liament, who  put  an  amulet  ol"  this  kind  on  the  leg  of  her  child,  who  had  just 
been  bitten  by  a  dog. 


Introductory 


35 


Evidence  from 
the  tombs. 


Significance  of 
treasures 
buried  with  the 
dead. 


mainder  of  their  worship,  it  might  possibly  be  found  on 
a  higher  level  than  this  very  widespread  superstition. 

The  evidence  from  the  treatment  of  the  dead  is  far 
more  important  and  suggestive.  The  precious  tombs 
discovered  by  Schliemann  at  Mycenee  were  deep  under 
the  earth,  at  the  bottom  of  shafts  over  which  there  were 
gravestones  with  sculptures  on  them,  and  these  again 
inclosed  by  a  circle  of  stones,  to  mark  the  sacred  place. 
At  the  bottom  of  these  shafts,  some  of  them  twenty-six 
feet  deep,  the  dead  were  found,  as  I  have  already  told, 
crushed  into  resting  places  too  narrow  for  them  but 
covered  with  gold  masks,  and  with  many  precious  cups 
and  ornaments  of  gold,  silver,  and  bronze  piled  in  upon 
the  bodies.  The  only  meaning  which  such  precious 
offerings  to  the  dead  can  have  is  to  express  the  belief 
that  there  is  some  continued  existence  for  the  dead  ; 
that  the  precious  things  which  they  had  acquired  during 
their  lives  are  still  their  property,  and  that  it  was  not 
only  an  outward  mark  of  honor  from  the  survivors,  but 
a  cause  of  satisfaction  to  the  dead,  to  have  their  most 
valuable  property  buried  with  them.    The  very  contents,    Belief  in  a 

,  ,     •  ,  i  1      i-    c    ■         i         future  life. 

therefore,  of  Schliemann  s  tombs  prove  a  belief  in  the 
existence  of  man  after  death.  But  what  is  passing 
strange  in  the  discovery  is  the  crushing  of  the  bodies 
into  a  narrow  hole,  while  they  covered  them  with 
treasure.  This  treatment  seems  to  be  inconsistent,  too, 
with  the  worship  of  ancestors,  an  early  form  of  religion 
current  among  most  Aryan  races.  We  know  of  no 
place  for  offerings,  no  altar  or  shrine  to  which  survivors 
could  have  come  to  honor  the  dead,  unless  it  be  that 
within  the  circle  of  stones  over  the  spot  some  ceremonies 
were  performed.  Though  there  were  traces  of  burning 
about  some  of  the  bodies,  there  seems  to  have  been 
nothing  found  in  the  layers  of  soil  over  them  sufficient 


c; 


Introductory 


37 


to  warrant  such  an  inference.  But  it  is  possible  that 
Schliemann  in  throwing  all  the  earth  he  excavated  over 
the  great  wall  which  here  incloses  the  fort,  has  covered 
up  some  evidences  of  an  approach  from  the  outside, 
where  the  offerer  could  come  close  to  the  tombs  from  a 
far  lower  level.  This  point  is  still  unsettled.  What  is 
however  quite  clear  and  not  a  little  surprising  is  that  the 
second  race  who  built  there  adopted  a  wholly  different 
mode  of  burial,  and  one  specially  adapted  for  the 
worship  of  ancestors. 

The  famous  "bee-hive"  building,  made  of  huge  hewn 
stones,  known  as  the  Treasure-house  of  Atreus  (the 
father  of  Agamemnon)  and  so  often  described,*  was 
of  course  no  treasure-house  in  the  direct  sense,  but  the 
spacious  house  of  a  deceased  king,  in  which  many 
treasures  were  originally  laid.  The  appearance  of  this 
great  construction  leads  us  to  believe  that  in  an  inner 
rude  chamber  the  actual  bones  were  laid,  while  the  large 
dome-shaped  hall,  with  a  broad  way  leading  to  its  mas- 
sive portal,  its  walls  adorned  with  shining  plaques  of 
bronze,  was  intended  for  those  services  and  offerings 
whereby  the  living  expressed  their  respect  and  affection 
for  the  dead.  There  was  probably  no  god  worshiped 
with  such  circumstance  at  Mycenae  as  this  deceased 
king,  whoever  he  was  ;  but  the  discovery  of  several 
other  less  splendid  chambers  of  the  same  form  by  Schlie- 
mann shows  that  it  was  no  isolated  labor,  but  a  mere 
instance  of  a  well-established  custom.  The  tomb  of  the 
king  has  been  long  since  rifled  ;  no  trace  of  its  splendor 
but  the  massive  and  careful  construction,  some  remains 
of  its  bronze  plating  within,  and  of  the  careful  carving  of 
its  portal  ornaments  is  left  to  us.      But  these  are  enough 

*See  illustration,  on  opposite  page,  for  a  similar  "  bee-hive  "  building  ;  and 
for  the  ''Treasury  of  Atreus"  see  Professor  Tarbell's  "History  of  Greek 
Art,"  Figs.  26  and  27. 


Later  change 
in  mode  of 
burial. 


Treasure-house 
of  Atreus. 


Splendor  of  its 
construction. 


3$  A  Survey  of  Greek  Civilization. 

Worshipof  to  show  not  only  the  worship  of  ancestors  as  part  of  the 
religion  of  that  day,  but  more  generally  that  interest  in 
the  past  and  in  the  future  which  distinguishes  the  civil- 
ized man  from  the  savage.  The  latter,  like  the  beasts 
that  perish,  thinks  only  of  the  present  or  at  most  of  the 
coming  winter's  store  ;  it  is  not  till  each  generation 
conies  to  regard  itself  as  the  mere  life-holder  of  an  en- 
tailed estate  that  sordid  material  cares  are  postponed  to 
the  interest  in  past,  and  the  interest  of  future,  genera- 
tions. 
Cremation  It  is  a  matter  of  great    importance    that    in    neither 

pre-Homeric  the  so-called  Perseid  or  the  Pelopid  tombs  is  there 
any  evidence  of  burning  the  dead.  They  are  all  buried, 
some  with  partial  embalming,  some  simply  laid  in  the 
earth.  The  Homeric  habit  of  burning  {incineration  as 
opposed  to  inhumation)  seems  quite  foreign  to  these 
pre-Homeric  people.  And  this  is  what  we  might  ex- 
pect. So  long  as  the  dead  were  suffered  to  live  in  the 
tomb  and  enjoy  the  pious  offerings  placed  there  periodi- 
cally for  their  use,  it  was  obvious  that  any  destruction 
of  that  body  would  seem  not  only  cruel  but  impious. 
The  first  desire  of  many  early  races,  notably  of  the 
Egyptian,  has  been  not  to  destroy,  but  to  perpetuate  the 
body,  as  the  necessary  condition  of  any,  even  the  faintest 
and  vaguest,  future  life. 

But  in  the  Homeric  epoch  other  notions  seemed  to 
Change  of  view  prevail.  Man  had  learned  to  separate  the  soul,  or 
pnerio°dmeriC  shade,  from  the  body,  and  to  find  for  it  an  abode  far 
from  the  tomb,  in  another  world,  where  all  the  gnat 
company  of  dead  meet  together,  and  so  could  receive 
the  rewards  and  punishment  that  had  not  been  meted 
out  to  them  justly  in  this  life.  This  separation  then 
of  soul  and  body  was  the  necessary  beginning  of  the 
doctrine  of  future  retribution.      For  so  long  as  the  dead 


Introductory. 


39 


Imitations  of 
eleventh  book 
of  Odyssey. 


lived  only  in  his  tomb  he  might  indeed  be  punished 
or  rewarded  by  being  deprived  of,  or  amply  supplied 
with,  food,  his  arms,  ornaments,  and  slaves,  but  no 
interference  of  higher  powers  was  apprehended.  The 
earliest  picture  of  the  next  world  we  know  is  in  a  late 
book  (the  eleventh)  of  the  Odyssey,  and  therein  the 
whole  society  of  the  dead  is  gathered  into  the  dusky 
realms  of  Pluto,  and  the  "lamentable  kingdom."  Two 
of  the  most  magnificent  poems  in  the  world,  the  sixth 
book  of  Virgil's  ^Eneid,  and  Dante's  Inferno,  are  de- 
rived directly  from  this  model.  There  is,  however, 
evidence  that  Mycenaean  sentiment,  which  hid  the  dead 
in  a  safe  chamber  and  watched  over  their  preservation 
with  affectionate  care,  was  not  ousted  by  Homer  and  the 
epic  poets,  and  was  never  replaced  in  the  habits  of 
the  nation  by  the  funeral  pyre  and  the  cinerary  urn.  It 
is  even  probable  that  this  latter  fashion  was  mainly  that  Burial  re- 
of  princes  and  nobles,  many  of  whom  fell  in  war  far  from 
their  homes,  and  whose  relations  had  the  means  to  carry 
out  this  costly  ceremony.  There  are  traces  enough, 
even  in  the  Homeric  poems,  of  the  older  fashion.  But 
in  later  and  historical  times,  we  still  find  the  ordinary 
practice  to  be  burying  the  dead,  and  even  still  placing 
beside  them  ornaments,  toys,  amulets,  as  if  the  belief  in 
the  future  life  of  the  body  was  not  extinct. 

How,  indeed,  can  we  call  it  a  belief?  The  evidences 
of  decay  and  destruction  were  but  too  obvious.  It  was 
only  a  vague  hope,  a  longing  to  soothe  despair,  an  effort 
to  prolong  at  least  for  a  time  the  influence  and  the  mem- 
ory of  the  departed.  Dreams  and  ghosts  gave  color  to 
this  hope,  and  the  visits  of  the  dead  were  even  dreaded 
as  omens  of  evil.  Some  then  may  have  felt  that  the 
burning  of  the  body  protected  them  from  this  alarming 
supervision.      But  this  is  not  the  sentiment  of  civilized 


ordinary 
practice. 


Reasons  for 
burial  rather 
than  cremation. 


40  A  Survey  of  Greek   Civilization. 

mankind.  Even  now  in  civilized  Europe,  the  care  and 
Care  of  tombs,  decoration  at  stated  intervals  of  tombs,  the  erection  of 
funeral  monuments,  point  to  more  than  a  mere  record- 
ing of  the  place  and  time  when  a  parent,  a  child,  a 
friend,  was  laid  in  the  earth.  It  recalls  those  lower  and 
deeper  strata  of  human  sentiment  lying  at  the  very 
foundation  of  our  mental  constitution  and  derived  from 
tne  primitive  beliefs  of  our  long-forgotten  ancestors. 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE    HOMERIC    AGE. 

It  is  a  very  strange  phenomenon  that   early  Greek    Early  theory  ot 
history  appears   to   us   in   isolated   moments  or  stages,    foGreetftages 
each  separated  from  the  rest  by  an  almost  impenetrable  hlstory- 
darkness.     The   palaces   which  Schliemann  discovered 
point   to   about  the  sixteenth   century  ;    the   Iliad  and 
Odyssey   to   the   ninth  ;   the  earliest   lyric   poetry  and 
the  aristocratic   society   that   produced  it  to  the  early 
seventh.      It  used  to  be  a  very  constant  problem  to  fill 
up  the  gaps,    and  learned  men  were  ready  to  assume 
what  I  hold  to  be  impossible  —  that  after  the  completion 
of  the  epos  poetic  genius  dried  up  for  some  centuries  till 
the  days  of  Archilochus. 

We  are  now  in  a  position  to  modify  considerably  these  Modem  theory 
cruder  theories,  and  to  put  before  the  reader  the  theory  gradual 
of  a  more  natural  and  therefore  more  rational  develop- 
ment. In  the  first  place,  we  now  know  that  the  prehis- 
toric remains  do  not  come  from  a  single  epoch  or 
generation  ;  that  from  the  rudest  of  them  (Schliemann' s 
Troy)  to  the  latest,  the  tombs  of  Menidi,  Spata,  and 
especially  Vaphio,*  there  are  centuries  of  progress. 
Nor  did  this  age  of  great  stone  buildings,  of  rich  im- 
ported merchandise,  of  rude  native  art  die  out  long 
before  the  conditions  found  in  the  earliest  portions  of 
the  Homeric  poems.  The  traditions  of  a  great  and  rich 
Mycenae   and   Tiryns  were   yet  fresh  ;   the  voyages  of 


♦The  reader  will  find  these  tombs  discussed  either  in  Schuehhardt  's  book  or 
Schliemann,  or  in  the  early  chapters  of  Holm's  or  of  Busolt's  Greek  histories. 


42  A  Survey  of  Greek   Civilization. 


Phenician   pirate   traders   still   current  ;  Egypt  was  still 

known  as  the  real  home  of  enormous  wealth  and  culture. 

Gradual  And  when  we  come  to  the   "Homeric  Age,"  here  too 

growth  of  .      . 

Homeric  Age.  we  have  been  taught  to  discriminate  layers  or  strata 
in  the  story  ;  we  have  learned  to  accept  its  gradual 
growth,  we  are  no  longer  obdurate  as  to  the  early  date 
of  all  the  books  of  each  poem.  Nay,  rather,  there  is 
every  reason  to  think  that  the  close  of  the  epic  age, 
represented  by  those  cyclic  poems  that  are  now  lost, 
came  very  near  the  date  when  Archilochus  broke  with 
old  tradition,  with  precedent,  with  an  artificial  and  effete 
style,  and  drew  from  popular  song  a  deep  draught 
of  splendid  inspiration. 

What  we  now  have  before  us  is  to  discuss  how  far  the 

Evidence  from     Homeric    poems,    as  we   have   them,    with   the   help  of 

Homer  and  1  ' 

excavated  sites.  Hesiod  and  of  material  remains,  can  tell  us  of  the 
real  life  and  thought  of  the  Greeks  now  rapidly  crystal- 
lizing into  a  nationality  distinct  from  Pelasgian,  Thra- 
cian,  Macedonian,  Illyrian,  and  though  severed  into 
many  conflicting  societies,  yet  attaining  some  unity  in 
language,  in  religion,  and  in  political  ideas.  We  will 
not  attempt  to  enter  upon  the  whole  Homeric  question, 
one  which  properly  belongs  to  the  history  of  Greek 
literature,  but  we  must  bring  newer  researches  and  con- 
clusions to  bear  upon  the  question  :  How  wide  in  time 
is  the  epoch  which  these  poems  represent,  and  how  nar- 
row is  their  adherence  to  real  facts  ?      These  poems  are 

Homeric  poems        f  ,  f      ,        .  .         .  -.  ..... 

are  worksofthe   or  course  works  of  the  imagination.      No  one  will  think 

imagination.  r  ...  ...... 

for  one  moment  of  seeking  any  scrap  of  truth,  historical 
or  even  physical,  in  the  "Battle  of  the  Gods"  (Iliad, 
Book  XX.),  nor  can  we  believe  that  all  the  Iliad  was 
originally  composed  upon  one  short  episode  of  the  war, 
while  all  its  long  years  of  chivalry  were  laid  in  oblivion. 
Both  Iliad  and  Odyssey  are  clearly  a  selection  from  a 


Structure  of  the 
Iliad. 


The  Homeric  Age.  43 

great  mass  of  poems  about  all  the  wars  and  adventures   iiiad  and 
of  a  long  period — the  selection  by  a  genius,  and  en-   selections, 
dowed  with  an  artistic  unity  which  did  not  lie  in  the 
facts,  but  in  the  poet's  mind,  when  he  chose  the  Wrath 
of  Achilles  or  the  Return  of  Ulysses  as  the  warp  which 
he  filled  up  with  his  precious  and  variegated  woof. 

This  is  the  view  of  the  question  toward  which  scholars 
whose  minds  are  open  have  been  gravitating  for  the 
last  twenty  years,  and  now  there  is  a  sort  of  agreement 
where  there  was  formerly  nothing  but  bitter  and  arid 
controversy.  The  form  in  which  I  stated  it  some  years 
ago*  does  not  differ  in  substance  from  the  fuller  and 
clearer  exposition  of  M.  Croiset  in  his  admirable  treat- 
ment of  the  problem,  which  I  here  give  in  abridgment. 

The  analysis  of  the  Iliad  shows  us  certain  sections 
of  the  poem  possessing  very  striking  common  character- 
istics. Some  of  them  even  form  a  chronological  series, 
in  so  far  as  the  events  which  they  describe  are  relatively 
determined  in  time.  If  then  these  scenes  were  related  in 
their  natural  order,  they  formed  not  indeed  a  complete  Iljad  made 
epic  poem,  but  a  group  of  lays  resembling  it,  by  bring-  ^verfint'o'an5 
ing  before  the  hearer  the  successive  moments  of  the  organic  whole, 
same  series  of  actions.  A  few  lines  of  transition  would 
easily  explain,  to  such  as  were  not  intimate  with  the 
story,  the  connection  of  each  piece  with  the  foregoing 
lay.  There  are  also,  however,  some  scenes,  such,  for  ex- 
ample, as  the  parting  of  Hector  and  Andromache  (Iliad, 
Book  VI.),  which  the  poets  were  at  liberty  to  insert  at 
any  point  they  thought  fit,  and  very  possibly  not  always 
at  the  same  moment  in  the  action. 

Such  then  is  the  probable  earliest  condition  of  the 
Iliad — isolated,  but  connected,  lays,  most  of  them  find- 
ing a  fixed  place  according  to  the  order  of  the  events, 

*  Cf.  my  "  Greek  Literature,"  chapters  on  Homer  in  Vol.  I. 


44  A  Survey  of  Greek   Civilization. 

others  floating  among  them  without  any  such  logical  de- 
termination. Hence  those  early  lays,  without  producing 
the  Iliad,  clearly  laid  the  foundation  of  that  poem.  If 
the  actual  plot  was  not  bequeathed  to  those  who  came 
after,  still  the  outlines  of  the  plot,  or  the  suggestion  of  it( 
is  there  —  several  great  scenes  forming  what  Aristotle  in 
his  "Poetics"  calls  an  artistic  whole,  that  which  has 
Not  a  single        a   beginning',    a    middle,    and    an    end.      This    was   the 

author,  but  a  ........  .,  ,         , 

series  of  auth-  nucleus  which  families  or  guilds  oi  successive  poets  ex- 
panded and  completed  upon  the  lines  of  the  original, 
though  with  freedom  and  variety.  For  it  was  not  in- 
tended for  one  long  recitation  ;  each  passage  was  likely, 
therefore,  to  retain  a  certain  independence,  and  might 
even  be  inserted  to  please  a  particular  audience.  It  is 
then  not  the  artifice  of  an  arranger  or  of  a  committee 
which  has  produced  the  Iliad,  but  rather  the  unfettered 
work  of  many  poets  controlled  by  the  greatness  of  an 
early  creation  of  genius  which  they  desired  to  complete 
and  perfect  by  further  developments.      The  unity  was 

Unity  of  the        there   from    the    outset,    but    only    became    clear    when 

accounted  for.  the  original  sketch  was  filled  in.  To  use  a  metaphor  : 
The  first  poet  had  raised  upon  the  great  territory  of 
Greek  legend  three  or  four  splendid  towers  to  mark  out 
the  domain  which  he  claimed  for  himself  ;  his  successors 
joined  these  towers  by  new  constructions,  more  richly 
decorated,  but  not  grander  than  the  original  work,  then 
the  remaining  gaps  were  stopped  by  a  simple  wall.  So 
in  time  the  whole  was  inclosed  to  form  a  single  castle 
and  city,  which  men  called  the  Iliad.* 

Such  being  the  structure  of  the  poems,  what  must  we 

Homeric  poems   expect  from  them  as  genuine  evidences  of  civilization  ? 

oviSon^       I'1  the  oldest  lays  there  will  be  the  bard's  opinion  about 


•Abridged  from  Croiset's  "  Histoire  de  !:i  Litterature  Grecque,"  I.,  Chapter 
HI-.  *  5- 


The  Homeric  Age. 


45 


the  heroes  whom  he  sings  and  the  society  in  which  they 
lived,  glorified  more  or  less  according  as  the  voice 
of  tradition  told  him  of  bygone  splendor,  and  his  im- 
agination led  him  to  enhance  the  valor  and  the  virtue  of 
the  princes  who  were  his  patrons.  But  the  spiritual 
ground  of  it  all,  the  principles  he  acknowledges,  the 
emotions  which  he  respects,  the  fashions  which  he 
pictures  —  all  these  are  the  reflex  of  his  age,  and  give  us 
a  deeper  and  truer  view  of  the  earliest  Greek  society 
than  any  dry  chronicle  or  genealogy. 

In  the  days  when  men  believed  in  a  simple  Homer,    Necessary 
author  of  both  Iliad  and  Odyssey,  not  to  say  of  lesser   concfption°ofr 
poems,   the  whole  narrative  could    be  regarded  in  this   [andt^0"" 
light,    and  so  we  have  many  attractive  pictures  of  the 
age,  gathered  from  all  the  four  corners  of  these  epics. 
But  now  that  we  know  of  various  layers  and  additions, 
of  later  poets  and  arrangers,  we  must  be  more  cautious  ; 
for  in  the  last-born  offspring  of  the  epic  poets,  we  must 
presume  a  knowledge  of  the  earlier  parts,  an  adherence 
to  them  as  models,  a  conscious  clothing  of  the  heroes  in 
antique  dress  and  manners  —  in  fact,  a  certain  amount  of 
antiquarianism,  which  cannot  but  take  from  the  value  of  Antiquarianism 

^  in  the  poems. 

the  evidence,  which  is  now  artificially  wrought,  and  not 
spontaneous.*  In  no  respect  is  this  more  manifest  than  in 
the  dialect,  which  is  in  many  places  clearly  artificial,  even 
constructing  words  upon  false  analogies  and  so  producing 
strange  forms  which  can  never  have  been  in  real  use.  The 
whole  dialect  is  composite  and  artificial,  for  it  is  more  than 
likely  that  lays  originally  composed  in  the  yEolic  dialect   Dialect. 


*  It  is  more  than  likely,  as  Holm  has  argued,  that  it  was  not  till  after  the  so- 
called  Ionic  migration  that  the  bards  of  Smyrna  and  Miletus  began  to  put 
together  and  enlarge  primitive  legends  concerning  the  ancestors  of  the  colo- 
nists in  their  Greek  homes.  Hence  the  men  of  Asia  Minor  were  seeking  to 
describe  men  and  things  of  some  generations  earlier  in  Greece.  Features  of 
the  later  age  may  often  have  crept  into  their  descriptions,  for  what  antiquarian, 
least  of  all  those  of  an  early  and  unlearned  age,  has  ever  been  proof  against 
such  mistakes? 


4-6  A  Survey  of  Greek   Civilization. 

were  transformed  into  the  more  fashionable  and  wide- 
spread Ionic,  to  meet  the  requirements  or  the  taste  of 
Ionic  courts.  But  where  the  meter  resisted  the  change, 
the  older  forms  were  left  embedded  in  their  new  sur- 
roundings, and  so  produced  a  language  which  was  once 
thought  a  deliberate  selection  from  various  local  dialects, 
but  which  is  really  an  imperfect  adaptation  of  the  old  to 
the  new,  with  archaisms,  natural  and  artificial;  as  it  were, 
an  old  set  of  Drydens  dealing  with  an  older  school  of 
spontaneity  not   Chaucers,  and  spoiling  them  not  a  little  in  the  process. 

admired  by  ' 

the  Greeks.  But  to  say  that  even  the  oldest  parts  of  the  poems  were 
the  natural  song  of  any  primitive  bard  is  to  ignore  the 
most  vital  feature  in  all  Greek  art.  The  spontaneous, 
the  natural  as  such,  was  always  regarded,  in  every  epoch 
of  Greek  life,  as  merely  the  untutored  and  unrefined, 
and  no  greater  censure  could  be  expressed  by  any 
Greek  critic  than  that  the  producer  of  a  work  was  an 
autodidact — a  self-taught  man.* 

The  whole  structure  of  the  stately  hexameter,  or 
Homeric  meter,  shows  it  to  be  an  artificial  growth, 
probably  originating  among  the  priests  of  Apollo  at 
Delphi.  The  very  scansion  by  quantity  instead  of 
accent  (for  then,  as  now,  the  Greek  spoke  according  to 
accent),  marks  a  starting  point  of  artificiality  which 
Greek  poetry  never  laid  aside.  There  are  vestiges  of 
older  and  simpler  meters  in  the  songs  of  the  people  ;  we 
must  assume  that  at  some  definite  period  not  long 
anterior  to  the  earliest  Homeric  lays,  hexameter  verse 
was  adopted  as  the  fittest   medium   for  musical  recita- 

D     ...  tions.      If,  as  I  have  intimated,  this  change  came  from  a 

Possible  '  '  ° 

!n"stsCe°f        school  of  priests,  and  priests  in  the  service  of  Apollo,  we 


Meter. 


*  I  beg  the  reader  to  note  this  assertion  particularly  ;  we  shall  have  occasion 
to  return  to  it  many  times  in  the  course  of  this  book.  It  is  quite  opposed  to 
the  vanity  of  modern  life,  which  often  professes  to  believe  that  natural  genius 
can  produce  great  and  finished  results  in  art  and  literature. 


The  Homeric  Age.  47 


can  also  understand  the  deliberate  abstention  of  the 
poets  from  mentioning  old  superstitions,  ancient  wor- 
ships such  as  those  of  ancestors,  and  their  eagerness  to 
bring  the  whole  hierarchy  of  the  newer  Olympian  gods  "°"^' ^"oS" 
before  their  hearers.  In  this  sense  the  words  of  Herod-  °g>- 
otus  would  receive  their  fullest  interpretation,  when  he 
says  that  Homer  and  Hesiod  made  the  theology  of  the 
Greeks,  and  assigned  to  the  several  gods  their  styles 
and  attributes.  Unless  these  gods  were  of  recent 
origin,  such  a  task  would  be  far  beyond  any  poet  or 
even  school  of  poets.  But  if  the  adventures  of  heroes 
came  to  be  intertwined  with  the  influence  of  the  gods  of 
Olympus,  we  can  understand  that  the  popularity  of  the 
former  would  accrue  to  the  latter,  and  so  the  epic  poetry 
would  cause  local  gods  and  demons,  local  worships  and 
superstitions,  to  be  forgotten  for  the  new  and  fashionable 
pantheon  of  Mount  Olympus. 

We  might  indeed  suppose  that  the  older  and  more  General 
primitive  lays  would  show  evidences  of  a  ruder  society   Homeric  °f 
than  the  later  work  with  which  they  are  now  combined,    P°ems- 
and  it  might  occur  to  some  learned  man  to  sever  the 
component  parts,  and  examine  them  from  this  point  of 
view.     But  such  labor  would,  I  think,  be  lost.     For  the 
man  of  genius,  called  Homer  if  you  like,  who  welded 
into  unity  the   Iliad,  or  the  Odyssey,  was  surely  artist 
enough  to  produce  a  general  harmony  among  the  parts, 
and  give  them  all  that  general  character  which  has  im- 
posed upon  many  centuries  as  the  work  of  a  single  mind. 
We  must  therefore  be  content  to  take  the  poems  as  they 
stand,  and    draw  our  earliest   picture  of   really   Greek   Cautiontobe 
civilization  from  the  epic  poems  as  we  have  them,  with   usf^hemas 
the  general  warning  that  they  are   composed   by  men 
who   lived   some   generations   later    than  the  historical 
basis  of  the  story,  or  the  patriarchal  royalties  which  they 


evidence. 


48  A  Survey  of  Greek   Civilization. 

describe,  and  so  many  evidences  of  a  late  and  even 
decaying  society  may  be  surprised  among  the  descrip- 
tions of  what  the  poet  thought  the  morning  of  Greek 
life. 

In  this  respect  the  Odyssey  has  a  flavor  far  different 
Spirit  of  from  the  Iliad.      Detailed  descriptions  of  bloody  wounds 

e^fromlliadr  cease  to  play  a  prominent  part;  the  shock  of  battle  is 
merely  stated  as  a  fact — "All  day  we  fought  upon  the 
shore,  but  on  the  evening  came,  we  were  worsted  and 
were  driven  to  our  ships,  losing  many  of  our  comrades." 
This  is  told  as  in  a  narrative  where  the  adventures  of 
travel  afford  the  leading  interest.  It  is  easy  to  see  that 
now  the  spirit  of  trading  adventure  was  rising  among  the 
Rise  of  trade.  nation  ;  the  exploration  of  distant  lands,  the  search  for 
wealth  across  the  stormy  seas  amid  romantic  dangers, 
fascinated  the  higher  classes,  who  could  not  brook  the 
shabby  and  confined  life  of  the  peasant,  as  portrayed  in 
Hesiod.  "  Cette  race,  qui  ont  fait  du  commerce  une 
poesie,"  a  French  writer  exclaims,  are  those  who  in- 
spired, and  who  delighted  in,  the  Odyssey.  But  then 
the  home  virtues  are  also  put  forward  ;  the  solid  ad- 
vantage of  having  an  hereditary  chief  who  is  a  father  to 
his  people  ;  the  dangers  of  aristocratic  anarchy  when  the 
king  is  from  home  ;  the  valuable  check  of  public  feeling 
upon  the  lawless  nobles,  even  though  the  poet  will  not 
admit  that  it  had  any  legal  force. 

With  all  these  features,  which  lead  us  to  the  threshold 
of  aristocratic  days,  when  monarchy  was  falling  into  old 
age  and  democracy  was  not  yet  weaned,  the  suitors  of 
Penelope  had  their  counterpart  in  many  a  state,  till  their 
Antinous  or  Eurybates  got  the  people  to  join  him,  and 
massacred  the  rest  as  Ulysses  had  done,  but  as  a 
tica^dcoT1"5'  usurper,  not  as  a  legitimate  king.  But  with  these  politi- 
ceptionofhfe.      ca|  revoiutions  come  also  the  bitter  reflections  upon  the 


The  Homeric  Age. 


49 


pathos  and  the  dolor  of  life — the  thought  that  the  age  of 
gold  is  gone  by,  that  the  gods  no  longer  walk  in  the 
garden  in  the  cool  of  the  evening  ;  that  strength  and 
beauty  are  fading  from  among  men,  and  that  older  and 
better  days  are  giving  way  to  a  stern  and  pitiless  age, 
when  the  struggle  for  life  and  survival  of  the  fittest 
replace  the  favor  and  the  wrath  of  gods  that  can  be 
appeased  by  human  prayer  and  sacrifice.  These  are  the 
considerations  with  which  I  now  propose  to  introduce 
the  observations  I  made  long  ago  in  my  ' '  Social  Life  in 
Greece,"  in  the  hope  that  my  readers  will  refer  to  that 
book  for  details  which  must  here  be  omitted  owing  to 
the  wider  scope  and  consequent  limitations  of  space 
imposed  upon  me. 

Homer  introduces  us  to  a  very  exclusive  caste  society,  in 
which  the  key  to  the  comprehension  of  all  the  details  depends 
upon  one  leading  principle — that  consideration  is  due  to  the 
members  of  the  caste,  and  even  to  its  dependents,  but  that 
beyond  its  pale  even  the  most  deserving  are  of  no  account  save 
as  objects  of  plunder.  So  the  Homeric  chieftain  behaves  even 
in  battle  with  some  consideration  to  his  fellow  chieftain  ;  in 
peace  and  in  ordinary  society  he  treats  him  with  the  most 
delicate  courtesy  and  consideration.  To  his  wife  and  to  the 
wives  of  his  friends  he  behaves  with  similar  politeness,  though 
in  a  less  degree,  and  with  a  strong  sense  of  their  inferiority.  To 
his  own  slaves,  who  are  as  it  were  dignified  by  being  attached  to 
him,  he  conducts  himself  with  consideration,  as  he  does  even 
to  his  horses  and  his  dogs  for  the  same  reason.  But  there  is 
evidence  enough  that  the  stranger  who  was  not  a  guest  friend,  stra"gers  and 
and  the  free  laborer  who  was  unattached  to  his  household — 
these,  as  well  as  all  women  not  belonging  directly  to  the 
governing  classes,  were  treated  with  reckless  brutality,  and  in 
disregard  of  the  laws  of  justice  and  mercy.  A  few  illustrations 
on  each  of  these  points  will  be  sufficient  to  establish  the  prin- 
ciple, and  so  give  us  a  clue  to  gathering  up  details  under  its 
special  heads. 

The  Greeks  and   Romans  always   laid  great   stress  on  the 


Exclusiveness 
of  Homeric 
society. 


Brutality  to 


5° 


A  Survey  of  Greek   Civilization. 


Manners  at 
table. 


Simplicity. 


Barbarous  pro- 
fusion and 
sameness  of 
food. 


Temperate  use 
of  wine. 


Bards  at  feasts. 


habits  of  the  table  as  indicative  of  civilization,  and  it  was 
specially  noted  of  such  mythical  humanizers  as  Orpheus,  that 
they  had  induced  men  to  improve  the  tone  and  manners  of 
their  feasting.  The  Greeks  of  historic  times  not  only  con- 
trasted themselves  in  this  respect  with  their  semi-barbarous 
neighbors,  but  even  (as  we  shall  see)  estimated  the  compara- 
tive culture  of  the  Greek  cities  by  this  sensitive  social  test. 
From  this  aspect,  then,  the  Greeks  of  Homer  and  of  Hesiod 
occupy  a  very  definite  position.  The  appointments  of  their 
feasts  seem  simple,  but  not  unrefined.  Each  guest  generally 
had  a  small  table  to  himself  well  cleansed  with  sponges,  and  a 
special  supply  of  bread.  The  washing  of  hands  before  eating 
was  universal.  With  the  exception  of  the  large  cup  for  mixing, 
which  was  often  embossed,  and  the  work  of  a  famous  artist, 
we  hear  of  no  plate  or  other  valuables  to  ornament  the  room. 
This  neat  simplicity,  however,  does  not  correspond  with  the 
extraordinary  quantity  and  rudeness  of  the  food,  and  the 
barbarous  sameness  in  the  victuals  and  their  preparation.  The 
Achaean  heroes  seem  always  ready  to  join  in  a  meal  of  great 
roast  joints,  and  they  hardly  ever  meet  on  any  important 
occasion  without  forthwith  proceeding  to  such  a  repast.  Nor 
do  we  see  any  refinement  or  variety  in  either  cooking  or 
materials.  We  hear  of  no  vegetables  except  among  the 
peculiar  Lotos-eaters,  or  offish,  except  indeed  that  the  latter  is 
mentioned  by  Menelaus  as  the  wretched  sustenance  of  his 
starving  comrades  when  wind-bound  off  the  coast  of  Egypt ! 
Here  is  indeed  a  contrast  to  the  Attic  banquet,  where  large 
joints  were  thought  coarse  and  Boeotian,  while  fish  was  the 
greatest  and  most  expensive  of  luxuries. 

Yet  withal  the  primitive  and  primitively  cooked  materials  of 
the  banquet,  in  themselves  no  better  than  the  "mutton  and 
damper  "of  the  wild  Australian  squatter,  were  accompanied 
by  evidences  of  high  refinement  and  culture.  There  was  ruddy 
sweet  wine,  mellowed  by  age,  and  esteemed  for  its  bouquet  as 
well  as  its  flavor.  And  yet,  good  as  the  Greeks  thought  it, 
they  tempered  it  with  water,  for  drunkenness  was  in  all  ages 
an  offense  against  Greek  taste  ;  it  was  even  by  the  immoral 
suitors  considered  fit  for  Centaurs,  and  by  later  Greeks  for 
Thracians  :  "to  drink  in  decent  measure"  was  a  universal 
rule  of  society.  There  was  also  present  the  reciting  bard,  who 
aided  and   was  aided   by   the  generous   wine   in   raising  the 


The  Homeric  Age.  51 


emotions  of  the  guests  to  a  warmer  and  loftier  pitch,  for  he  sang 
the  deeds  of  men  of  old  renown,  the  ancestors  and  models 
of  the  warriors  who  sat  before  him  at  their  tables.  This  was 
truly  the  intellectual  side  of  the  Homeric  banquet,  a  fore- 
taste of  the  ' '  Symposium ' '  of  Plato.  But  the  Homeric  Greeks 
were  still  far  below  the  stage  when  intellectual  conversation, 
in  which  all  took  part,  was  considered  essential  to  social  enjoy- 
ment ;  for  the  most  cultivated  of  the  heroes,  Ulysses,  describes 
it  as  his  notion  of  the  highest  enjoyment  to  sit  in  a  row  of  silent 
guests  and  listen  to  a  bard  singing,  with  ample  meat  and  drink 
upon  the  table.  There  were  sometimes  ladies  present  also,  as  women  in 
we  see  in  the  case  of  Helen  and  Arete  at  their  respective  courts,  JJjjjJgJ0 
and  the  strong  intellect  and  high  qualities  of  such  ladies  are 
plainly  seen  in  the  leading  part  which  they  take  in  the  con- 
versation. 

The  current  news  of  the  day  seems  to  have  been  the  chief 
topic,  whenever  strangers  were  present,  and  we  can  imagine 
the  eagerness  with  which  men  inquired  concerning  absent 
friends,  when  they  had  no  other  means  of  hearing  of  their 
welfare.  So  much  was  the  want  of  regular  communication  felt 
that  wandering  beggars  evidently  attained  an  importance 
similar  to  that  of  the  beggars  and  also  of  the  pedlars  in  Scott's 
novels,  who  combine  with  the  trade  of  selling  goods  that  of 
carrying  news,  and  were  even  at  times  employed  as  confidential 
messengers.  These  vagrants,  in  Homer's  day,  either  carried  wandering 
or  invented  news,  and  obtained  their  living  in  reward  for  it.  beggars3" 
Thus  Ulysses,  in  this  disguise,  asks  his  swineherd  what  sort  of 
man  his  lost  master  was,  perhaps  he  may  have  met  him  in  his 
wanderings.     And  the  swineherd  replies  : 

"  It  were  vainly  striven, 
Old  man,  with  news  to  cheer  his  wife  and  child, 
Oft  needy  wandering  men,  to  fraud  much  given, 
Have  for  a  lodging  many  lies  compiled  : 
These  far  too  much  whileome  have  my  dear  queen  beguiled. 

"  Such  she  treats  tenderly,  enquiring  all, 
And  in  heart-bitterness  doth  weep  and  wail, 
As  should  a  wife  whose  lord  far  off  doth  fall. 
Thou  too,  old  man,  wouldst  quickly  forge  some  tale  ; 
But  as  for  him,  long  since  his  life  did  fail  ; 
Dogs  must  have  torn  him,  and  wild  birds  of  prey  ; 


52 


A  Survey  of  Greek   Civilization. 


Primitive  hos- 
pitality decay- 
ing in  Homeric 
times. 


Presents  had 
no  sentimental 
value. 


ility  of 
Menelaus. 


Or,  as  the  dead  form  drifted  with  the  gale, 
Fishes  devoured  him,  and  his  bones  this  day, 
Wrapt  in  the  cold  sea-sand,  lie  moldering  far  away."* 

In  so  similar  a  state  of  society  to  that  of  old  Scotland,  I  fancy 
that  the  Phenician  traders  may  have  corresponded  somewhat 
to  the  pedlars,  as  the  beggars  were  so  analogous.  The 
Homeric  beggars  do  not,  however,  seem  to  have  made  so 
much  money  as  those  of  Scotland  and  Ireland  in  the  last 
century. 

The  great  courtesy  and  hospitality  shown  to  strangers,  even 
of  the  lowest  type,  nevertheless  appear  to  me  rather  the 
remains  of  a  more  primitive  state  of  things  than  the  natural 
outburst  of  Homeric  generosity,  for  even  in  the  ideal  society 
depicted  by  the  poets  there  are  many  passages  where  the  close 
shrewdness  and  calculating  generosity  of  the  Greek  mind  break 
out  naively  enough  through  the  curtain  of  nobler  feeling  which 
only  disguised  them.  I  lay  no  stress  on  the  absence  of  that 
modern  sentiment  which  values  a  gift  as  a  keepsake,  and  will 
not  part  with  it  even  for  greater  value.  The  Homeric  heroes 
readily  gave  away  the  gifts  of  respected  guest  friends.  But 
this  was  probably  because  the  absence  of  coined  money  had 
not  made  the  broad  distinction  now  universally  felt  between  the 
market  value  and  the  sentimental  value  of  a  present.  The 
main  Homeric  personalities  consisted  of  arms,  cups,  and 
ornaments.  These  were  obtained  by  barter,  and  taken  in  pay- 
ment, and  so  even  the  gifts  of  friends  were  not  considered  in 
any  different  light  from  a  mere  money  present. 

But  in  other  points  hospitality  was,  I  think,  decaying. 
Though  every  chief  was  bound  to  receive  a  stranger,  and 
though  the  more  noble  of  them  did  so  readily,  yet  there  are 
hints  of  some  compunctions  in  accepting  hospitality,  and  some 
merit  claimed  by  the  host  for  granting  it.  Mentor  and  Tele- 
machus  rise  up  from  Nestor's  feast,  and  intend  to  return  to 
their  ship,  when  the  old  hero  lays  hold  of  them,  and  exclaims, 
"  Zeus  and  tin-  other  immortals  forbid  that  you  should  leave  me 
and  go  to  your  ships  as  if  I  were  a  man  short  of  clothing,  or 
poor,  who  had  no  wrappers  and  rugs  for  himself  and  his  guests 
to  sleep  in  comfortably."  And  so  when  Telemachus  arrives 
at  Sparta,  Menelaus's  confidential  servant  asks,  "Tell  me, 
*  Worsley's  translation. 


The  Homeric  Age.  53 


shall  we  take  round  the  horses  of  these  noble  strangers,  or 
send  them  on  to  some  one  else,  who  may  befriend  them?" 
But  Menelaus  answers  in  great  anger  :  "  You  used  not  to  be  a 
fool ;  but  now  you  are  talking  silly  nonsense,  like  a  child  :  as  if 
we  ourselves  had  not  before  reaching  home  enjoyed  the  hospi- 
tality of  many  !  "  Both  Nestor  and  Menelaus  were  gentlemen 
of  the  old  school ;  so  that  when  the  question  is  raised,  they 
hesitate  not  in  their  answer.  But  another  hero  speaks  out  more 
naively  :  "Of  course  you  must  receive  a  stranger,  when  he 
comes  ;  but  who  would  be  so  foolish  as  to  invite  a  man  of  his 
own  accord,  except  it  were  a  skilled  artisan  " — who  of  course 
would  more  than  repay  his  host  by  his  services. 

We  hear  too  that  the  presents  generously  bestowed  by  the  shrewdness 
kings  were  recovered  by  them  subsequently  from  their  people,  Greek?"'0 
and  yet  this  homely  arrangement  seems  fairer  and  more 
satisfactory  than  the  habit  of  modern  times,  when  people  give 
their  kings  a  large  income  beforehand,  in  the  vain  expectation 
that  they  will  spend  part  of  it  at  least  in  hospitality.  The 
Homeric  Greeks  were  too  shrewd  and  wide-awake  a  people  to 
sow  where  they  did  not  reap,  and  the  increase  of  communica- 
tion, and  consequent  frequency  of  visitors,  were  sure  to  close 
quickly  the  open  door,  and  bar  the  right  of  entering  unasked. 
The  anxious  precautions  of  Ulysses  on  entering  the  house  of 
Alcinous,  so  similar  to  the  acts  of  the  exile  Themistocles  at  the 
hearth  of  the  Molossian  king,  show  that  there  was  risk,  even  in 
peace,  for  travelers  ;  and  it  may  be  that  the  generous  hospitality 
of  the  nobler  Homeric  chiefs  was  even  then  not  the  general 
rule,  but  the  mark  of  a  higher  and  more  refined  nature.  So 
we  find  the  elder  Miltiades,  in  historical  times,  sitting  at  his    „      ..  ... 

'  '  &  Hospitality  not 

open    door,    in    contrast    to    the    general    selfishness    of   his    universal. 

neighbors.     Homeric  politeness  seems,   then,   in  this  respect 

also,  a  forerunner  of  the  later  Greek  courtesy,  that  it  consisted 

rather  in  good  taste  and  in  tact  than  in  reckless  extravagance 

or  in  self-denial  for  the  sake  of  others.     Thus  we  find  Homeric 

men  avoiding  to  press  an  unwilling  guest — a  piece  of  good 

taste  unknown  to  many  of  our  middle  classes  ;  and  evading  all 

unpleasant  subjects— a  piece  of  tact  requiring  subtlety  of  mind 

and  quickness  of  perception.     The  medieval  baron  or  the  old   Tact  of 

Irish  squire  would  readily  fight  a  duel  for  a  friend  from  mere    Homeric  men. 

politeness,  they  would  not  have  comprehended  the  points  on 

which  the  Greeks  laid  stress. 


54 


A  Survey  of  Greek  Civilization. 


Fine  feeling 
and  fairness. 


Court  of 

Menelaus. 


Influence  of 
women. 


Freedom  of 
women. 


Indeed,  no  one  can  read  the  account  of  the  games  in  the  Iliad 
or  that  of  the  courts  of  Alcinous  and  of  Menelaus  in  the 
Odyssey,  without  being  greatly  struck  with  the  gentleness  and 
grace  of  the  ideal  life  portrayed  by  the  Homeric  poets.  The 
modern  betting  man  will  be  surprised  to  see  the  open  and 
gentlemanly  way  in  which  the  races  and  other  contests  were 
conducted.  Of  course  there  was  a  little  jostling  and  some 
cheating,  especially  on  the  part  of  the  gods  who  befriended 
each  competitor  ;  but  then  we  find  a  man's  word  believed  that 
he  had  no  unfair  intention  —  a  piece  of  open  dealing  which 
would  hardly  answer  among  the  habitues  of  our  race-courses. 
Above  all,  the  conduct  of  Achilles  is  marked  throughout  by  the 
finest  and  kindliest  feeling ;  indeed,  in  no  other  part  of  the 
poem  does  he  appear  to  nearly  such  advantage. 

The  court  of  Menelaus  is  a  worthy  counterpart  to  this  picture. 
No  doubt  this  hero  is  always  represented  in  a  very  favorable 
point  of  view  socially,  and  Helen  is  acknowledged  to  have 
charms  not  only  of  person,  but  of  intellect,  beyond  all  other 
women,  so  that  this  court  may  be  regarded  as  the  poet's  ideal 
of  refinement  and  politeness.  But  admitting  this,  we  must  also 
admit  that  the  ideal  is  very  high.  There  is  nothing  inferior  to  the 
tone  of  society  in  our  best  circles  in  this  picture.  The  presence 
of  Helen  among  the  company,  her  luxurious  elegance,  her  quick 
tact  and  ability  —  all  these  features  show  how  fully  the  poets 
appreciated  the  influence  of  female  society  in  softening  the  rude 
manners  of  the  pugnacious  heroes.  So  at  the  court  of  Alcin- 
ous we  are  especially  introduced  to  Queen  Arete  as  a  lady 
honored  by  her  husband  above  the  honor  given  to  other  ladies 
by  their  husbands,  and  greeted  with  kindly  words  by  her  peo- 
ple whenever  she  went  out  through  the  city,  "for  she  was  not 
wanting  in  good  sense  and  discretion,  and  acted  as  a  peace- 
maker, allaying  the  quarrels  of  men." 

We  have  thus  been  passing  insensibly  from  the  Homeric 
hero's  treatment  of  his  fellows  to  his  treatment  of  the  ladies  of 
his  family.  The  cases  I  have  already  cited  show  how  high  was 
the  position  of  married  women  in  the  royal  houses.  The 
charming  portrait  of  the  Princess  Nausicaa  corresponds  with  it 
perfectly — and  in  all  these  ladies'  habits  we  find  the  greatest 
liberty  of  demeanor,  and  all  absence  of  silly  jealousy  on 
the  part  of  their  relatives.  Arete,  as  we  have  just  seen,  was 
in   the   habit  of  going,  apparently  on  foot,   through  her  city. 


The  Homeric  Ape.  55 


Nausicaa  thinks  that  if  her  gossiping  townsmen  see  her  passing 
through  the  streets  with  so  handsome  a  stranger  as  Ulysses, 
they  will  at  once  set  him  down  as  her  intended  husband, 
and  censure  her  behind  backs  for  despising  all  her  Phaeacian 
suitors.  And  when  Ulysses  has  apparently  forgotten  her,  and 
she  feels  somewhat  heartsore  about  him,  she  does  not  think  it 
unmaidenly  to  lie  in  wait  for  him  where  he  cannot  pass  her,  and 
gently  cast  up  to  him  that  though  now  honored  and  courted  by 
all  the  nation,  yet  to  her  he  once  owed  his  rescue  from  want 
and  hunger.  These  and  many  other  passages  show  that 
the  Homeric  ladies  enjoyed  a  liberty  unknown  in  good  society 
at  Athens,  though  perhaps  allowed  in  other  parts  of  Greece  ; 
and  it  will  be  a  question  for  special  discussion  hereafter,  why 
the  Athenians,  of  all  Greeks,  retrograded  most  from  the  higher  Later  retro. 
attitude  of  the  epic  age.  More  especially,  the  abduction  of  ^|s^?^ngf 
Helen  and  the  seduction  of  Clytemnestra  seem  to  imply  a  very 
free  intercourse  among  the  sexes,  even  to  admit  of  such 
attempts  being  made.  From  this  point  of  view  ^Eschylus  felt 
with  a  true  instinct  the  independent  and  free  attitude  of  a  reign- 
ing queen  when  her  husband  was  from  home.  So  Penelope 
entertains  even  wandering  strangers,  and  has  long  interviews 
with  them,  in  the  hope  of  hearing  of  Ulysses,  and  there 
was  nothing  unseemly  in  doing  so.  Sophocles,  in  his  dialogues 
between  Clytemnestra  and  Electra,  was  misled  by  the  customs 
of  his  day,  and  did  not  feel  the  epic  freedom  of  women 
sufficiently.  It  is  also  important  to  note  that  this  liberty  was 
not  the  privilege  of  the  higher  classes,  as  might  possibly  be 
supposed  ;  for  a  remarkable  simile  says,  "Why  should  we  now 
revile  one  another,  like  women  who  in  some  angry  quarrel  go 
into  the  middle  of  the  street  and  abuse  each  other  with  re- 
proaches both  true  and  false  ? "  We  shall  find  the  same  license 
implied  in  many  of  the  lyric  poets. 

But  I  do  not  feel  at  all  sure  whether  the  very  mild  censure  Leniencyshown 
expressed  against  infidelity  is  to  be  regarded  as  a  trustworthy  to  immorality, 
reflex  of  the  morals  of  the  times.  No  doubt  the  painful  facts 
which  I  have  noticed  above  must  have  blunted  the  moral  sense 
of  men  on  these  delicate  relations.  Though  we  nowadays  rate 
personal  purity  so  highly  that  the  loss  of  it  by  misfortune 
is  hardly  less  excused  by  society  than  its  abandonment  through 
passion,  yet  in  the  Homeric  times,  when  the  compulsory  in- 
fidelity of  a  wife  as  a  prisoner  of  war  was  openly  recognized, 


56 


A  Survey  of  Greek  Civilization. 


Poet's  conces- 
sions to  women 
in  his  audience. 


Indulgent  view 
of  Helen's  con- 
duct. 


Clytemnestra. 


and  in  no  way  reprehended,  this  callous  attitude  may  have  re- 
flected its  influence  upon  cases  of  voluntary  sin,  and  so  they 
came  to  be  regarded  with  much  indulgence.  All  this  is  pos- 
sible, and  may  be  allowed,  I  think,  some  weight.  So  also  the 
open  concubinage  allowed  to  married  men  often  afforded  a 
plea  for  retaliation  and  a  justification  in  the  case  of  crime. 

But  yet,  after  all  these  allowances,  I  think  we  must  still 
attribute  the  most  important  reason  for  the  apparent  leniency 
with  which  the  adultery  of  princesses  is  regarded  to  the  poet's 
own  social  position,  and  to  the  audience  before  whom  he  sang. 
Doubtless  noble  ladies  were  present  at  his  songs  ;  he  owed 
to  their  favor  many  precious  gifts,  and  perhaps  a  comfortable 
retreat  in  the  precincts  of  the  palace.  It  was  necessary  then  to 
treat  them,  as  he  does  the  kings,  with  peculiar  leniency,  and  to 
set  down  their  delinquencies  to  the  special  temptations  of  the 
gods,  rather  than  to  their  own  wickedness. 

It  was,  I  think,  for  this  part  of  his  audience  that  the  poet  in- 
serted the  list  of  celebrated  ladies  whom  Ulysses  met  in  the 
lower  regions.  I  hardly  think  the  male  part  of  the  audience 
felt  sufficient  interest  in  them.  If  they  did,  it  would  be  an 
additional  proof  of  the  prominence  of  noble  ladies  in  their 
society,  and  of  the  celebrity  which  a  lady  of  exceptional  beauty 
and  rank  might  attain.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  this  passage 
was  very  similar  to  the  fuller  catalogue  of  female  worthies 
usually  ascribed  to  Hesiod. 

Despite  all  that  the  advocates  of  Homeric  morals  may  say, 
we  but  seldom  find  throughout  the  poems  a  really  strong  repro- 
bation of  Helen's  adultery,  even  in  her  own  mind.  She  is 
never  spoken  of  by  others  as  disgraced  in  the  eyes  of  men,  she 
is  never  regarded  as  a  castaway,  or  unfit  to  return  to  her  posi- 
tion in  Menelaus's  palace.  If  she  had  not  caused  bloodshed 
and  misery  by  the  Trojan  War,  I  see  little  reason  to  think 
that  her  crime  would  have  been  regarded  much  more  seriously 
than  that  of  Aphrodite  in  the  lay  of  Demodocus. 

The  treatment  of  Clytemnestra  is,  I  think,  equally  lenient,  if 
we  consider  her  more  violent  character  and  that  she  added  the 
crime  of  murder  to  her  adultery.  She  is  specially  said  to  have 
been  of  a  good  disposition,  and  to  have  stood  firm  as  long 
as  the  old  bard  whom  Agamemnon  had  left  in  charge  of  her 
was  there  to  advise  her.  The  shade  of  Agamemnon  of  course 
speaks  more  sharply  ;   but  the  advice  put  into  his  mouth  shows 


The  Homeric  Age.  57 

how  strong  was  the  influence  and  intimate  the  relation  of 
married  women  as  regards  their  husbands  :  "Take  care  not  to 
speak  your  whole  mind  to  your  wife,  but  keep  back  some- 
thing"—an  advice  which  is  sometimes  given  in  the  present 
day  by  people  who  pretend  to  be  practical  men,  and  who  have 
never  heard  of  Agamemnon.  Noble  ladies  then  came  strictly 
within  the  limits  of  the  exclusive  caste,  they  were  treated  with 
courtesy,  and  even  too  great  leniency,  and  occupied  a  very  im- 
portant position  in  aristocratic  society. 

The  very  same  remark  will  hold  good  of  the  servants  at- 
tached to  noble  houses.  They  were  often,  as  we  are  told, 
children  of  good  birth,  brought  up  with  the  children  of  the 
family,  after  they  had  been  bought  from  the  vagrant  pirates 
who  had  kidnapped  them.  In  fact,  there  appears  to  have  been  Confidential 
no  traffic  such  as  afterwards  existed,  which  brought  slaves  of  servants, 
inferior  races,  usually  Thracians  and  Syrians,  into  Greek  ports. 
There  was,  in  Homer's  day,  no  feeling  of  shame  at  enslaving 
other  Greeks  ;  nor,  indeed,  had  the  Greeks  separated  them- 
selves in  idea  from  other  nations  under  the  title  of  Hellenes. 
So  the  slave  was,  or  at  least  might  be,  socially  his  master's 
equal  ;  and  I  think  the  bards  take  pains  to  tell  us  that  those 
who  distinguished  themselves  by  fidelity  to  their  masters  were, 
after  all,  of  no  common  origin  (like  the  wretched  day-laborers 
who  worked  for  hire),  but  were  really,  though  lowered  by  mis- 
fortune, members  of  the  same  caste  society  of  which  I  am  now 
speaking. 

These  confidential  servants  were,  perhaps,  exceptions  ;  for 
we  find  the  faithlessness  of  the  mass  of  Ulysses's  household 
coupled  with  the  general  reflection  "  that  Zeus  takes  away  half 
a  man's  virtue  in  the  day  that  slavery  comes  upon  him."  If  we 
wish,  however,  to  see  the  good  side  of  the  matter,  we  need 
only  read  what  is  told  of  Euryclea  and  of  Eumceus  the  swine-  Thg  swineherd 
herd,  to  see  how  thoroughly  they  belonged  to  the  family,  in  the  Odyssey, 
and  felt  with  it  against  the  lower  domestics.  Eumaeus  tells  the 
disguised  Ulysses  the  history  of  his  life,  and  of  his  intimate  re- 
lations to  Laertes  and  Anticlea.  He  speaks  with  gratitude 
of  the  comfortable  position  which  he  holds,  but  nothing  can 
compensate  for  the  exile  in  which  his  circumstances  have 
placed  him.  He  longs  to  see  his  old  patrons,  to  talk  with 
them,  be  entertained  by  them,  and  to  carry  back  to  his  country 
home  some  token  of  their  affection  in  the  shape  of  a  present. 


58  A  Survey  of  Greek  Civilization. 

Euryclea,  who  plays  a  leading  part  through  the  poem,  is  clearly 
one  of  the  mainstays  of  the  house,  and  so  self-devoted  in 
her  conduct  that  we  feel  hurt  with  Ulysses  as  we  do  nowhere 
else  in  the  whole  poem,  when  he  threatens  her,  should  she 
Ulysses.  be  wanting  in  discretion.     There  is  a  curious  combination  of 

harshness  and  of  high  feeling  in  this  passage,  which  is  one 
of  the  finest  in  either  poem.  The  old  nurse,  recognizing  him 
suddenly  by  his  scar,  lets  everything  fall,  and  the  bath  pours 
over  the  floor.  Overcome  by  a  burst  of  mingled  joy  and  grief, 
she  cries  out  and  looks  round  to  Penelope,  whose  eyes  are 
darkened  and  her  mind  distracted  by  Athene  that  she  may  not 
perceive  it.  Ulysses  seizes  her  by  the  throat,  and  whispers  ve- 
hemently :  "Nurse,  why  will  you  destroy  me  —  you  that 
nursed  me  at  your  breast  —  now  that  I  am  come  home  a  way- 
worn sufferer  after  twenty  years  ?  But  since  god  has  allowed 
you  to  recognize  me,  silence  !  and  let  no  one  in  the  house  know 
it,  [for  if  you  do]  I  solemnly  declare  that  I  shall  not  spare  you, 
though  you  are  my  nurse,  when  I  am  putting  to  death  the 
other  women  servants  in  my  house."  And  she  answers: 
"Child,  how  could  you  say  such  a  thing?  You  know  how 
stanch  is  my  resolve,  and  that  I  shall  keep  the  secret,  like  some 
hard  stone  or  mass  of  iron.  But  when  the  day  of  vengeance 
comes  I  can  tell  you  who  are  the  women  who  are  dishonoring 
your  house."  He  answers:  "Nurse,  why  should  you  tell  of 
them  ?  'tis  not  your  business,  I  shall  find  them  out  for  myself. 
Keep  you  silent  and  leave  it  to  the  gods."  Such  slaves 
differed  in  social  standing  but  little  from  the  free  attendants 
who  held  a  very  honorable  position  in  the  retinue  of  the  chiefs, 
just  as  well-bred  gentlemen  and  men  of  respectability  are  now 
not  ashamed  to  perform  menial  duties  at  the  courts  of  kings 
and  governors. 

_     ,  ,         ,  What  consideration  those  received  who  lived  apart  from  the 

Greek  love  of  ,,,,.. 

revenge.  reigning  caste,  or  made  themselves  obnoxious  to  it,  appears 

painfully  enough  in  the  Homeric  poems  and  in  Hesiod.  If  we 
consider  the  punishment  of  his  rebellious  household  by 
Ulysses,  or  the  fate  threatened  to  Irus  by  the  suitors,  if  he 
declines  to  fight  with  Ulysses,  we  see  what  treatment  rebellion 
or  disobedience  met  at  their  hands.  The  Greeks  were  always 
a  passionate  people,  and  wreaked  fierce  vengeance  to  satisfy 
their  wrath.  Thus  men  did  not  abstain  altogether  from  mutila- 
tion of  the  living  ;  thus  Achilles  keeps  insulting  the  dead  body 


The  Homeric  Age.  59 

of  his  foe,  and  thus  even  queens  desire  to  eat  the  raw  flesh  of 
their  enemies. 

But  the  utterance  of  Achilles  in  the  nether  world  is  still  more  , ,.,     , 

Wretched  life  of 

remarkable  on  the  position  of  the  poor,  who  are  unattached  to  hired  laborers. 
the  houses  of  the  great.  "Talk  not  to  me,"  says  the  hero, 
"  of  honors  among  the  dead  ;  I  would  rather  be  a  hired  servant 
on  earth,  and  that  to  a  poor  man,  than  rule  as  a  king  among 
the  shades."  In  other  words,  I  had  rather  choose  the  most 
wretched  existence  conceivable  on  earth  than  rule  beneath. 
Accordingly  the  hired  servants  of  poor  farmers  are  selected  for 
this  distinction.  Is  not  this  hint  thoroughly  borne  out  by  the 
state  of  things  we  meet  in  Hesiod  ?  If  the  poor-farmer  class, 
though  personally  free,  had  such  a  hard  life  as  he  describes, 
how  wretched  must  have  been  the  hired  servant,  whom  the 
poet  recommends  his  hearers  to  turn  out  as  soon  as  the  press 
of  farm  work  was  over.  There  must,  then,  have  been  an 
abundance  of  such  servants,  since  they  could  be  again  pro- 
cured at  pleasure,  and  we  can  conceive  how  miserable  must 
have  been  their  pay  and  lodging  on  Hesiod's  farm. 

But  the  poet  Hesiod  himself  had  no  enviable  days.     And  of   TT    .    ,, 

^  J  Hesiod  s  testi- 

all   his   griefs,    undoubtedly   the  foremost   was  a   patent  fact   mony  to  capac- 

seldom  alluded  to  by  the  polite  Homeric  bards — the  gross  cias°.rU  mS 
injustice  of  the  chiefs  in  deciding  lawsuits  and  their  readiness 
to  devour  bribes.  The  fable  he  adduces  implies  plainly  enough 
that  they  felt  a  supreme  contempt  for  the  lower  classes  and 
their  feelings  ;  they  openly  proclaimed  the  law  of  might,  and 
ridiculed  the  lamentations  of  the  ill-used  and  injured  husband- 
man. The  repeated  reminder  to  the  people  of  Ithaca  that 
Ulysses  had  not  thus  treated  them,  but  had  been  considerate  to 
them  as  a  father,  almost  implies  that  he  was  exceptional  in  his 
justice.  And  indeed  what  could  we  expect  from  a  society 
which  regarded  the  Pallas  Athene  of  the  Iliad  and  Odyssey  as  its 
ideal  of  intellect  and  virtue  ?  But  in  Homer  we  see  only  the 
good  side  (if  we  except  the  Ithacan  suitors,  who  are  described 
as  quite  exceptional)  ;  in  Hesiod  we  are  shown  only  the  bad 
side.  The  wretched  farmer  looked  on  the  whole  class  of 
aristocrats  as  unjust  and  violent  men,  that  cared  not  at  all 
about  his  rights  and  his  interests. 

Perhaps  if  we  strike  an  average  or  balance,  we  shall  obtain  a 
fair  view  of  the  real  state  of  things  in  these  old  days.  Possibly 
the  aristocrats  who  managed  the  states  after  the  abolition  of 


6o  A  Survey  of  Greek   Civilization. 


monarchy  in  Boeotia  were  worse  than  the  single  kings;  for  we 
know  nowadays  that  boards  and  parliaments  have  neither 
conscience  nor  human  feeling,  so  that  they  commit  injustices 
almost  impossible  to  individuals,  and  moreover  they  are  deaf 
to  the  appeal  that  touches  a  single  heart.  But  it  is  surely  a 
certain  proof  of  the  antiquity  of  Hesiod's  poems,  and  perhaps 
the  most  hopeless  feature  in  his  difficulties,  that  there  seems  no 
redress  possible  for  the  injustice  of  the  nobles,  except  the  inter- 
ference of  the  gods  whose  duty  it  is  to  punish  wrong  among 
men.  The  poet  insists  that  the  gods  do  see  these  things,  and 
that  they  will  interfere  ;  but  this  very  insisting,  coupled  with 
the  desponding  tone  of  the  whole  book,  lets  us  see  plainly 
Attitude  of  what  was  the  general  feeling  of  the  lower  classes.     For  as  to 

scrn'in  Hesiod.  obtaining  help  from  public  opinion  of  any  sort,  even  from  the 
"  harsh  talk  of  the  people  "  in  Homer,  or  the  grumbling  in  the 
assembly  to  which  Telemachus  appeals — there  is  no  trace  of  it. 
The  earnest  and  deeply  outraged  husbandman  never  dreams  of 
a  revolution,  of  calling  the  assembly  to  declare  its  anger,  or 
even  of  enlisting  some  of  the  chiefs  against  the  rest.  It  speaks 
well  for  the  sterner  and  sounder  qualities  of  the  Boeotian 
farmers  that  such  circumstances  did  not  induce  despair,  but 
rather  a  stern  resolve  to  avoid  the  wicked  judgment-seats  of 
the  aristocrats,  above  all  things  to  keep  clear  of  litigation,  and 
to  seek  the  comforts  of  hard-earned  bread  and  of  intelligent 
husbandry.  This,  then,  is  the  isolated  position  of  the  works  of 
Hesiod — the  poet  of  the  Helots — of  which  I  have  spoken 
already. 

And  yet  in  the  moral  parts  of  his  writings  the  Greeks  of  later 
ii,t','',dVsy  °f  aSes  found  much  that  was  attractive.  The  "  Works  and  I  >ays  " 
poems.  became  even  an  ordinary  hand-book  of  education.     This  fact 

will  not  surprise  us,  when  we  consider  that  in  one  broad  feature 
the  moral  lessons  of  Hesiod  run  parallel  with  the  pictures  of 
Homer,  in  this  the  exponent  of  the  most  permanent  features  in 
Greek  character  —  I  mean  that  combination  of  religion  and 
shrewdness,  that  combination  of  the  honorable  and  the  expedi- 
ent, which,  though  it  often  jars  upon  us,  yet  saved  the  Greeks, 
one  and  all,  from  sentimentality,  from  bombast,  and  from 
hypocrisy.  The  king  Ulysses  and  the  farmer  Hesiod  have 
the  same  respect  for  the  gods  and  the  same  "eye  to  busi- 
ness," the  same  good  nature  and  the  same  selfishness,  the 
same  honor  and  the  same  meanness.     Perhaps  the   king  was 


The  Homeric  Age. 


6t 


Greed  of  wealth 
characteristic 
of  early  as  of 


laxer  in  his  notions  of  truth  than  the  husbandman  ;  just  as  the 
Cavalier  thought  less  of  lying  than  the  Roundhead.  But 
perhaps  this  arose  from  his  greater  proximity  to  the  gods  of 
the  epic  poets,  who  had  no  difficulty  at  all  in  practicing  false- 
hood. 

In  another  point,  however,  the  king,  owing  to  his  manifold 
pursuits  and  interests,  escaped  a  grave  danger.  No  ambition 
whatever  lay  open  to  Hesiod  and  his  fellows,  save  the  making  later  Greeks, 
of  money  and  laying  up  stores  of  wealth,  as  he  says,  "to 
wretched  mortals  money  is  dear  as  their  souls."  In  those 
depraved  days,  when  a  verdict  could  be  bought  under  any 
circumstances  from  the  corrupt  chiefs,  money  was  power,  even 
to  a  greater  extent  than  in  more  civilized  conditions.  Hence 
the  natural  tendency  among  the  lower  classes  must  have  been 
to  postpone  everything  to  the  amassing  of  wealth— nay,  rather, 
there  was  no  other  occupation  open  to  them.  So  we  find  that 
both  Tyrtaeus  and  Solon,  early  poets  and  political  reformers, 
set  down  greed  of  wealth  as  the  real  cause  of  the  disorders  in 
their  respective  states.  The  same  tendency  is  plain  enough  in 
king  Ulysses,  and  shows  itself  even  ludicrously  in  the  midst  of 
the  deepest  melancholy  and  the  greatest  danger  ;  as,  for  ex- 
ample, when  he  finds  himself  cast  upon  a  desolate  shore  and 
abandoned,  and  when  he  sees  Penelope  drawing  gifts  from  the 
suitors  ;  but  his  lofty  and  varied  sphere  of  action  forces  it  back 
into  a  subordinate  place.  Yet  I  would  have  the  reader  note 
this  feature  carefully,  as  we  shall  meet  it  again  in  many  forms 
throughout  later  Greek  society. 

There  is  another  point  on  which  Hesiod  is  vastly  inferior 
in  social  attitude  to  Homer  ;  I  mean  in  his  estimate  of  women. 
But  the  plain-spoken  bard  was  not  singing  at  courts,  where 
queens  sat  by  and  longed  to  hear  of  worthies  of  their  own  sex  ; 
nor  did  he  contemplate  the  important  duties  of  the  house- 
mother in  the  absence  of  her  husband  in  wars  and  on  the 
service  of  his  state.  Hence  it  was  that  ^Eschylus,  though 
living  in  a  democracy  where  women  fared  badly  enough,  yet 
found  and  felt  in  the  epic  poets  such  characters  as  his  Clytem- 
nestra,  a  reigning  queen,  invested  with  full  powers  in  the  king's 
absence  — free  to  discuss  public  affairs,  to  receive  embassies, 
and  act  as  her  judgment  directed  her.  All  these  things  were  Hesiod's  atti- 
foreign  to  Hesiod's  attitude  ;  yet  surely  it  is  strange  that  in  ^taSted'SSi 
describing   farm    life   and    farm    duties    he    should    not  have    Homers. 


62 


A  Survey  of  Greek   Civilization. 


Scant  notice  of 
women  in 
Hesiod. 


Hesiod's 
gloomy  picture 
of  life,  in  con- 
trast with 
Homer's. 


thought  more  of  the  important  duties  of  the  housewife — duties 
which  throughout  all  Greek  and  Roman  history  raised  the  posi- 
tion of  the  countrywoman  above  that  of  the  townswoman, 
whose  duties  were  less  important,  and  whom  the  jealousy 
of  city  life  compelled  to  live  in  fear  and  darkness.  Yet  the 
first  allusion  in  the  "Works  and  Days  "  is  rude  enough  :  "You 
must  start  with  a  house,  a  wife,  and  an  ox  to  plough,  and  have 
your  farming  implements  ready  in  the  house."  There  is,  I 
believe,  no  farther  notice  of  the  woman  till  the  short  advice 
concerning  marriage  ;  and  here  too  nothing  is  stranger  than 
the  brevity  with  which  the  subject  is  noticed,  and  the  total 
silence  concerning  the  all-important  duties  which  even  Homer's 
princesses  performed,  and  which  were  certainly  in  the  hands  of 
the  women  of  Hesiod's  acquaintance.  We  might  almost  imagine 
that  some  sour  Attic  editor  had  expunged  the  advice  which 
Hesiod  owes  us  on  the  point,  and  had  justified  himself  with 
the  famous  apophthegm  of  Pericles  (or  rather  of  Thucydides), 
that  "  that  woman  is  best  who  is  least  spoken  of  among  men, 
either  for  good  or  for  evil."  Hesiod  implies,  indeed,  that 
a  man  may  know  something  of  the  young  women  in  the  neigh- 
borhood, and  this  supposes  some  freedom  of  intercourse  ;  yet 
he  seems  to  consider  the  worst  feature  of  a  bad  wife  her  desire 
to  sit  at  meals  with  her  husband,  an  opinion  which  in  his  age, 
and  his  plain  and  poor  society,  seems  very  harsh  indeed. 

However,  then,  I  may  be  accused  of  having  drawn  Homeric 
society  in  darker  colors  than  it  deserves,  though  I  have  given 
authority  for  every  charge,  yet  on  the  Hesiodic  society  all  intel- 
ligent students  of  the  "Works  and  Days  "  are  pretty  well  agreed. 
It  pictures  a  hopeless  and  miserable  existence,  in  which  care 
and  the  despair  of  better  things  tended  to  make  men  hard  and 
selfish,  and  to  blot  out  those  fairer  features  which  cannot 
be  denied  to  the  courts  and  palaces  of  the  Iliad  and  Odyssey. 
So  great,  indeed,  is  the  contrast,  that  most  critics  have  assumed 
a  change  of  things  between  the  states  described  in  Homer  and 
in  I  ksiod  ;  they  have  imagined  that  the  gaiety  and  splendor  of 
the  epic  bard  could  not  have  coexisted  with  the  sorrows 
and  the  meanness  of  the  moral  teacher.  But  both  tradition 
and  internal  evidence  should  convince  us  that  these  poems,  if 
not  strictly  contemporaneous,  are  yet  proximate  enough  in 
date  to  be  considered  socially  pictures  of  the  same  times,  differ- 
ing, as  I  have  explained,  in  the  attitude  of  the  poets,  but  not  in 


The  Homeric  Age. 


63 


the  men  and  the  manners  which  gave  them  birth.  If  so,  Hesiod 
has  told  us  what  the  poor  man  thought  and  felt,  while  the 
Homeric  poet  pictured  how  kings  and  ladies  ought,  in  his 
opinion,  to  have  lived  and  loved.  And  with  all  the  contrasts, 
I  think  we  can  see  conclusively  that  the  fundamental  features 
were  the  same,  and  that  they  were  the  legitimate  seed  from 
which  sprang  the  Greeks  of  historic  times. 

But  far  more  striking  than  the  sorrows  and  hardships 
of  Hesiod's  life,  described  in  the  foregoing  pages,  is  the 
conception  of  sorrow  as  a  friend  that  keeps  company 
with  man,  and  in  some  sort  assumes  the  garb  of  a  friend. 
We  have  it  in  the  poet  Shelley  : 

"  Come,  be  happy,  sit  by  me,  shadow-vested  Misery." 
We  have  it  in  Shakespeare's  : 

"  Grief  fills  the  room  up  of  my  absent  child,  .    .    . 
Puts  on  his  pretty  looks  " — 

but  who  should  expect  such  a  mental  attitude  in  Homer? 
Yet  it  is  there,  in  the  Odyssey,  plainly  enough  in  the 
famous  scene  when  Penelope  will  not  recognize  her  hus- 
band because  she  is  now  so  wedded  to  her  grief  that  it 
has  made  his  presence  a  perplexity,  and  the  disappointed 
hero  finds  himself  in  his  home,  but  no  longer  at  home, 
with  the  wife  whom  he  had  longed  for  through  twenty 
years.  This  is  indeed  the  most  modern  of  the  many 
modern  features  of  the  Odyssey,  and  one  which  had  es- 
caped notice  till  I  called  attention  to  it  in  my  "  History 
of  Greek  Literature. ' ' 

We  may  conclude  our  sketch  by  a  summary  of  the 
advances  in  culture  which  we  can  fairly  attribute  to  the 
Homeric  Age,  meaning  by  that  term  Greece,  the  coast 
of  Asia  Minor,  and  the  intervening  islands  from  the  pre- 
historic Mycenaean  age  down  to  about  the  year  700  B.C. 

The  greatest  gain  which  we  can  see  in  the  Homeric 
society  over  that  revealed  to  us  by  the  old  Mycenaean 


Homeric  con- 
ception of 
sorrow. 


Modern  touches 
in  the  Odyssey. 


64 


A  Survey  of  Greek   Civilization. 


Advances  in 
culture  in  the 
Homeric  Age. 


Native-born 
kings  and 
aristocracy. 


Growth  of 
public  opinion. 


Decay  of  trade 
and  decline 
of  luxury. 


ruins,  and  the  bee-hive  tombs,  is  the  substitution  of 
home  or  native  princes  for  foreigners.  If  the  Homeric 
chiefs  were  lineally  descended  from  the  old  invaders, 
they  had  at  all  events  become  indigenous.  It  is  no 
longer  Cadmus  or  Danaus  that  brings  civilization  to  the 
astonished  natives,  and  so  imposes  upon  them  his  sway, 
but  a  native  king,  speaking  their  language,  and  recog- 
nized as  one  of  themselves.  Round  the  principal  chief 
there  has  sprung  up  a  native  aristocracy,  each  member 
of  which  has  his  own  court  and  possessions,  and  is 
readv  to  take  the  leading  place,  whenever  his  own  prow- 
ess and  the  circumstances  of  his  rule  permit  him  to  do 
so.  Amid  this  rivalry  of  isolated  rulers,  oftener  at  feud 
than  at  peace,  the  masses  of  the  free  population  are 
gaining  in  importance,  for  their  favor  must  be  sought  by 
every  ambitious  leader.  There  are  as  yet  no  Greek 
polities,  where  the  majority  enact  laws  and  frame  an  in- 
dependent constitution  ;  but  the  germs  of  it  are  there — 
the  growth  of  public  opinion,  the  decay  of  absolutism, 
the  recognition  of  precedent  as  a  binding  obligation,  the 
claim  of  every  sentient  being,  even  the  slave  and  the 
beast  of  burden,  to  some  consideration. 

But  with  this  home  development  there  seems  to  have 
been  a  decay  in  commerce,  certainly  in  the  importation 
of  foreign  luxuries.  The  old  foreigner,  an  absolute  king 
commanding  unlimited  forced  labor,  and  keeping  in  di- 
rect contact  with  his  Phenician  or  Egyptian  home,  had 
both  wealth  to  buy  and  a  recognized  ship  service  to 
convey  the  ivory,  the  gold,  the  silver,  the  bronze, 
wrought  by  cunning  artists  in  their  old  homes.  With 
the  rise  of  home  rulers  and  the  multiplication  of  courts 
this  concentrated  power  and  the  close  connection  with 
older  art  centers  seem  to  have  decayed,  and  the  chiefs 
of  Greece,  as  contrasted  with  those  of  the  Asiatic  coast, 


The  Homeric  Age.  65 

were  probably  not  so  splendidly  appointed  as  the  old 
foreign  kings  of  "  much-golden  "  Mycenae.  The  traders 
were  no  longer  in  the  pay  or  under  the  control  of  the 
chiefs,  but  isolated  Phenician  and  Carian  speculators, 
combining  the  pedlar,  the  pirate,  and  the  kidnapper 
with  the  tradesman,  and  trusting  to  the  speed  of  their 
boats  and  their  skill  in  sailing  to  escape  the  vengeance 
of  those  whom  they  had  cheated  and  plundered.  But 
of  course  the  day  was  not  far  distant  when  the  clever  Greek  art. 
Greeks  began  to  emulate  those  enterprising  harvesters 
of  the  sea.  The  effect  of  these  things  upon  the  material 
arts  is  obvious  enough.  With  a  decay  of  importation 
came  at  first  the  rudeness  of  relapse,  then  the  develop- 
ment of  home  industry  to  replace  what  they  could  not 
obtain  from  abroad. 

As  regards  society,  we  have  only  the  manners  of  the  Refinement 
court  and  those  of  the  country  boor  depicted  to  us.  w,th  savasery- 
What  may  be  called  the  life  of  the  middle  classes,  both 
in  town  and  country,  is  still  to  us  a  blank.  I  have 
shown  elsewhere  the  curious  contrasts  of  refinement  and 
barbarism  which  characterize  the  Homeric  heroes.  Re- 
finement certainly  predominates,  but  there  is  a  back- 
ground of  savagery,  very  like  what  observers  tell  us 
about  the  Samoan  Pacific  islanders,  who  combine  the 
most  graceful  and  courtly  manners  with  great  freedom 
in  morals  and  even  survivals  of  cannibalism.  The  re- 
spect and  attention  paid  to  Homeric  princesses,  so  dif- 
ferent from  the  later  fashion  at  Athens  and  in  Ionia,  also 
suggest  to  us  the  great  importance  attached  to  the  Sa- 
moan princesses,  who  are,  sentimentally  at  least,  reign . 
ing  queens  in  the  native  villages. 

There  is  a  code  of  morals,  mostly  traditional,  but  also   .,     , 

J  '  Moral  standaid 

based  upon  certain  laws  supposed  to  be  established  by   external  and 
the  gods,  and  these  gods  sanction  and  support  truth 


66 


A  Survey  of  Greek  Civilization. 


Independent 
excellence  in 

art  and  litera- 
ture 


Development 
of  Homeric 


and  honesty  in  men,  though  according  to  the  legends 
they  regarded  their  own  actions  as  perfectly  free  from 
all  moral  considerations.  In  this  they  were  comparable 
to  those  medieval  sovereigns,  who,  while  insisting  upon 
obedience  to  the  moral  law  from  their  subjects,  asserted 
themselves  in  their  passions  and  their  pleasures  as  above 
all  law.  On  the  whole,  therefore,  while  there  was  a  be- 
lief in  the  government  of  the  world  by  the  gods,  there 
were  so  many  exceptions  and  excuses,  so  many  ways  of 
evading  the  wrath  and  buying  the  favor  of  these  gods, 
that  we  do  not  wonder  at  the  low  standard  of  truth  and 
honor  which  is  found  in  the  nation,  as  we  know  it  his- 
torically.* 

But  the  high  intelligence  of  the  people  was  sure  to  see 
its  way  through  these  difficulties,  and  this  high  intelli- 
gence was  shown  not  only  in  the  adoption  of  foreign 
handicrafts  and  the  production  of  new  work  on  inde- 
pendent lines,  but  in  the  extraordinary  excellence  of 
their  literature. 

The  Homeric  poems  show  clear  traces  of  a  long  liter- 
ary development,  in  which  the  oldest  parts  are  to  all 
appearance  equal,  if  not  superior,  to  the  rest.  They 
seem  even  to  have  had  a  long  history,  if  they  were  trans- 
formed from  the  ruder  yEolic  dialect  into  that  composite 
and  artificial  speech  which  is  now  known  as  the  Epic 
dialect.  All  this  presupposes  not  only  great  poetical 
faculty  on  the  part  of  the  earliest  bards,  but  an  almost 
equal  power  of  appreciation,  assimilation,  and  coordina- 
tion in  those  who  transformed  these  lays  and  ordered 
them  into  dramatic  unities,  which  satisfied  for  centuries 
the  critical  faculty  of  the  most  critical  of  people.  It  is, 
indeed,  not  till  the  last  twenty  years  that  we  may  say 


*  The  dishonesty  of  the  Greeks  was  proverhial   anions:  the   nations   that 
came  in  contact  with  them  ;  cf.  "  Social  Life  in  Greece,"  pages  122  sqg. 


The  Homer'ic  Age.  67 


that  the  bold  skepticism  of  Wolf  *  has  found  a  modified 

acceptance,  and  that  we  may  expect  in  any  new  book  on 

Greek  literature  to  find  the   old  belief  in  the  unity  of 

plan  and  of  authorship  in   Iliad  and  Odyssey  laid   aside   wolf's  theory. 

for  some  compromise  with  the  skeptical  school. 


*  I  refer  to  Wolfs  famous  "  Prolegomena  to  the  Iliad,"  published  in  the 
end  of  the  last  century,  where  was  first  broached  the  theory  that  this  poem 
was  not  the  work  of  a  single  poet,  composing  according  to  a  fixed  plan,  but 
the  conglomerate  of  many  short  lays  of  various  hands. 


CHAPTER    III. 


Precise  date  of 
earliest  his- 
torical records 
impossible  t'> 
define. 


The  fraud  of 
Hippias  of  Elis. 


THE    FIRST    TWO     CENTURIES    OF     HISTORICAL     DE- 
VELOPMENT    IN     GREECE,     7OO-5OO    B.     C. 

The  greatest  of  Greek  historians,  Grote,  acting  under 
one  of  those  sudden  attacks  of  credulity  to  which  every 
skeptic  is  liable,  fixed  not  700  roundly,  but  776  B.  C. 
precisely,  as  the  moment  when  we  could  declare  that 
historical  records  commenced  in  Greece.  It  was  the 
received  date  for  the  celebration  of  the  first  Olympic 
festival,  and  from  that  day  onward  he  held  that  every 
four  years  Greeks  had  met  at  that  holy  assembly  and 
commemorated  the  event  by  naming  the  victor  publicly 
in  a  permanent  record,  most  likely  upon  stone.  Proba- 
bly the  most  important  contribution  I  have  made  to  the 
better  understanding  of  early  Greek  history  was  the  ex- 
ploding of  this  superstition.  The  learned  world  in 
Germany  at  all  events,  and  I  suppose  consequently  in 
England,  has  accepted  the  proof  I  offered,  that  this  list, 
like  the  genealogies  of  kings  and  priests  which  went 
back  to  the  gods,  was  not  a  genuine  record  coming 
down  from  early  times,  but  the  deliberate  concoction  of 
a  clever  man,  Hippias  of  Elis,  who  did  not  flourish  till 
after  400  B.  C.  He  used  what  ancient  dedications  and 
inscribed  offerings  he  could  find  at  Olympia,  and  so 
obtained  some  dates  far  back  in  the  seventh  century  ; 
the  earlier  part  he  supplied  from  various  legends,  and 
from  his  own  imagination.* 


*  Cf.  the  appendix  of  my  "  Problems  in  Greek  History." 

68 


First  Two  Centuries  of  Historical  Development.     69 

The  earliest  firm  ground  we  reach  after  wandering 
through  land  of  mist  and  legend,  of  comparative  my-  Reign  of  Gyges. 
thology  and  epic  poetry,  is  the  reign  of  Gyges  of  Lydia, 
whose  career  is  sketched  by  Herodotus,  and  with  whom 
we  know  from  an  extant  fragment  that  the  great  poet 
Archilochus  was  acquainted,  probably  as  a  contem- 
porary. The  date  of  Archilochus  was  formerly  placed 
somewhat  before  700.  We  now  know  from  astronomi- 
cal data — an  eclipse  mentioned  in  this  reign — that  he 
lived  in  the  first  thirty  years  of  the  following  century. 
There  are  indeed  many  other  precise  dates  far  earlier 
than  this  to  be  found  in  cur  Greek  histories.  There 
is  Pheidon  of  Argos,  one  of  the  earliest  despots,  who  pheidonof 
coined  money,  who  humbled  Sparta,  who  celebrated 
the  eighth  Olympiad,  who  figures  therefore  under  the 
year  747  B.  C.  There  is  the  foundation  of  many  cities 
in  Sicily  from  736  onward,  as  reported  by  Thucydides, 
who  is  to  most  Greek  scholars  far  more  inspired  than 
their  Bible. 

All  these  dates  are  to  be  rejected,  as  being  the  fabri-  Reckoningby 
cations  of  a  later  age,  when  men  began  to  count  down-  ^u™^^!'01 
ward  from  the  demigod  Heracles,  the  divine  forefather 
of  the  early  rulers  of  Sparta  and  Argos  and  Corinth,  and 
the  tenth  generation  was  fixed  upon  for  Pheidon,  the 
founder  of  trade,  and  Archias,  the  founder  of  colonies. 
Commerce  there  was,  and  colonies  there  were,  of 
course,  not  only  in  the  eighth  century,  but  far  earlier. 
The  Phenicians  had  shown  the  way  to  the  Greeks,  and 
this  versatile  people  was  not  slow  in  rivaling  their 
teachers.  But  the  fixing  of  these  things  by  Olympiads 
or  precise  years  seems  to  me  wholly  chimerical.  In  all 
our  excavations  we  have  never  found  one  scrap  of 
writing  on  stone  (no  doubt  the  earliest  material  used) 
which  leads  us  to  believe  that  the  Greeks  had  records 


7o 


A  Survey  of  Greek   Civilization. 


Greece  of  the 
Lyric  Age. 


Dorian  in- 
vasion. 


in  that  century.  It  is  most  probable  that  Mycenae  and 
Tiryns  were  overthrown  and  their  population  embodied 
with  Argos  during  this  epoch,  and  yet,  as  I  have  above 
observed,  no  trace  of  writing  appears,  amid  other  handi- 
work so  developed  and  artistic,  as  would  cause  us  to 
assume  it  as  certain.  All  we  can  therefore  say,  and 
happily  it  is  enough  for  our  purpose,  is  that  Greece 
about  the  year  700  B.  C.  shows  a  considerable  progress, 
or  at  least  change,  from  the  condition  in  which  the 
Homeric  bards  knew  or  imagined  it.  Their  works 
were  in  common  use,  and  recited  daily  even  then,  but 
the  hearers  had  adopted  other  fashions  in  politics,  other 
tastes  than  war,  other  ideals  in  morals  and  religion. 
This  is  what  I  have  called  the  Greece  of  the  Lyric  Age,* 
because  our  principal  knowledge  of  it  comes  from  the 
fragments  of  the  great  lyric  poets,  who  were  then  re- 
placing the  epic  in  esteem  and  in  popularity. 

The  historical  causes  of  this  change  in  the  state  of 
Greek  lands  (I  include  of  course  the  islands  of  the 
^gean  and  the  coast  settlements  of  Asia  Minor)  are 
not  far  to  seek.  With  the  decay  or  abolition  of  foreign 
sovereignties,  the  home  chiefs  broke  up  more  and  more 
into  small  and  isolated  powers,  busy  with  border  feuds, 
and  hardly  able  to  sustain  any  large  policy  of  coalition 
or  of  commerce.  Hence  it  appears  that  an  invasion  of 
hardy  Doric  mountaineers  brought  new  masters  into  the 
Peloponnesus,  and  replaced  the  older  royalties.  That 
these  were  a  small  body  of  conquerors,  who  found  it 
necessary  to  make  a  compromise  with  the  vanquished, 
appears  clearly  enough  from  the  fiction  that  the  leading 
houses,  the  kings  of  Sparta,  Messene,  Argos,  Corinth, 
were  not  Dorian  invaders,  but  Achaean  descendants  of 
the    hero    Heracles.      We   have    not    evidence    enough 

*  Cf.  my  "  Social  Life  in  Greece,"  6th  edition,  Chap.  IV. 


First  Two  Centuries  of  Historical  Development.     7 1 

to  state  as  certain,  what  seems  very  probable,  that  it 
was  by  an  infantry  armed  with  iron  or  steel  weapons 
that  the  Dorians  overthrew  the  Achaean  nobles,  who 
fought  chiefly  from  chariots,  as  we  may  infer  not  only 
from  Homer,  but  from  the  oldest  tomb-reliefs  and 
figured  vases.  If  so,  it  was  the  oldest  occurrence  on 
Greek  soil  of  that  struggle  between  horse  and  foot  in 
battle  of  which  the  last  decisive  instance  was  the  over-   struggle  of 

^c»ll  v,   ^  Dorians  and 

throw  and  slaughter  of  the    Frankish   chivalry  of   the   Achaeans. 
Morea  by  the  Grand  Catalan  Company  on  the  field  of 
Orchomenus  in  1310  A.  D.* 

In  consequence,  however,  of  this  invasion,  there  ..  Return  wave. 
seems  to  have  been  a  return  wave,  or  an  outward  wavef  to  Asia  Minor, 
to  the  coasts  of  Asia  Minor,  and  there,  in  richer  soil,  in 
contact  with  richer  nations,  and  by  the  addition  of  land 
to  sea  commerce,  the  ^Eolians  and  Ionians  of  the  coast 
attained  to  a  wealth  and  comfort  far  superior  to  those 
enjoyed  by  the  hardy  mountaineers,  or  even  the  stirring 
islanders  in  and  about  the  Hellenic  peninsula. 

Moreover,  about  the  beginning  of  the  seventh  century   Influenceof 
B.  C.  the  Asiatic  Greeks  came  into  permanent  contact   Egyptians 

r  on  Greeks. 

with  two  monarchies,  from  which  they  learned  all  the 
luxuries  of  ages  of  development.  In  the  first  place,  the 
concession  of  a  Greek  mart  at  Naucratis  in  Egypt, 
though  under  many  jealous  restrictions,  %  established 
relations  between  the  Greeks  and  Egypt,  relations 
rapidly  increasing  when  Psammetichus  established   him- 


*  Cf.  Finlay's  "  History  of  Greece,"  IV.,  150. 

t  It  is  not  certain,  but  probable,  that  the  Greek  race  came  through  Asia 
Minor  into  Greece,  and  that  they  may  have  left  settlements  on  their  way,  or 
otherwise  preserved  the  tradition  of  an  old  occupation  of  that  country.  Thus 
the  Trojans  and  Lycians,  especially  their  leaders,  are  assumed  in  Homer  to  be 
of  the  same  race,  descended  from  the  same  gods,  and  speaking  the  same 
language  as  their  Argive  invaders.  It  is  the  theory  advocated  in  E.  Curtius's 
history,  to  which  I  refer  in  speaking  of  a  return  wave.  It  is  probable  theory, 
but  by  no  means  proved. 

JThe  early  Naucratis  corresponded  in  its  own  day  to  the  English  mart  at 
Hong  Kong  in  ours,  where  a  foreign  nation  was  allowed  to  settle  and  trade  in 
spite  of  great  jealousies  on  the  part  of  a  bigoted  and  exclusive  government. 


72 


A  Survey  of  Greek   Civilization. 


Effect  on  the 
fine  arts. 


The  Lydian 
monarchy. 


Greeks  as 
mercenary 
soldiers. 


self  on  the  throne  by  the  aid  of  Greek  and  Carian  mer- 
cenaries (668  B.  C.).  Here  then  the  Greeks  came  to 
know  a  people  far  older,  wealthier,  and  more  civilized 
than  themselves,  and  learned  all  manner  of  inventions, 
and  of  better  methods  in  arts  and  crafts.  They  seem  to 
have  imported,  and  even  produced  at  Naucratis,  pottery 
of  a  finer  quality  and  better  design  than  the  Egyptian. 
But  in  other  arts  they  must  have  been  very  inferior. 
Who  could  imagine,  for  example,  that  Greeks  of  that 
date  could  produce  anything  like  the  magnificent  jewelry 
found  upon  the  body  of  the  Princess  Aahotep  of  the 
Eighteenth  Dynasty  or  upon  those  of  Eknoumit  and 
Merit,  recently  discovered  by  Mr.  de  Morgan  and  dating 
from  the  Twelfth  Dynasty,  that  is  to  say  from  about 
2500  B.  C.  !  * 

Secondly,  the  rise  of  the  Lydian  monarchy  and  its 
opposition  to  the  Median  created  a  great  eastern  court 
at  Sardis  within  easy  reach  of  the  coast  settlements. 
This  monarchy,  copying  of  course  the  splendors  and 
habits  of  the  older  oriental  monarchies,  was  another 
example  to  the  Asiatic  Greeks  of  material  prosperity, 
and  probably  of  courtly  manners.  The  particular  chan- 
nel through  which  the  Greeks  not  only  of  Ionia,  but  of 
the  mother-land,  learned  most  both  from  Egypt  and 
from  Lydia  was  that  mercenary  service,  which  seems 
the  natural  outcome  of  Greek  energy,  and  which  became 
a  leading  profession,  if  not  the  leading  profession  of 
Hellenes,  until  the  extinction  of  their  liberty  and  the 
pax  Romano,  abolished  local  wars  throughout  the  basin 
of  the  Mediterranean.  To  fight  for  the  pay  of  wealthier 
states,  without  any  regard  to  patriotism  or  justice,  was  a 
Greek  practice  from  the  days  of  the  poet  Alcaus,  whose 


*  Cf.  the  interesting   article  on    these  discoveries  by  M.   Amelineau  in  the 
Revue  des  Deux  Mondes  for  July  15.  1895. 


First  Two  Centuries  of  Historical  Development.     73 

brother  served  under  Nebuchadnezzar,  to  those  of 
Scopas,  who  led  the  forces  of  Egypt  against  Antiochus 
the  Great,  and  even  the  kings  of  Sparta  were  not 
ashamed  to  undertake  such  work.*  More  particularly 
in  the  conflicts  of  Medians  and  Lydians,  the  Greeks  were 
frequently  employed  on  the  side  of  the  remoter  powers  Greeks  fight 
aeainst  the  Lydian  monarchs,   whom  the  Ionian  cities   against 

o  J  Lydians. 

found  proximate,  and  therefore  more  exacting,  masters. 
So  constant  indeed  were  the  offers  of  the  Ionians  to  help 
the  Medes  against  the  Lydians,  that  the  word  to  Medise 
became  a  technical  term,  used  by  Herodotus  even  after 
the  Medes  had  been  absorbed  under  the  Persian 
monarchy  of  Cyrus  and  his  heirs.  In  these  quarrels  and 
serving  in  these  armies,  many  Greek  soldiers  entered 
not  only  Sardis  but  Ecbatarm  and  Babylon,  Tyre  and 
Sidon,  Memphis  and  Thebes,  and  we  may  be  sure  that 
the  Greek  inscription  cut  by  them  on  the  leg  of  the 
colossus  at  Abu  Simbel  (about  600  B.  C. )  was  by  no 
means  a  record  of  their  earliest  visit  to  these  far  distant 
lands. f  It  is  to  be  noted  also  that  these  mercenaries 
were  not  mere  paupers,  or  adventurers  such  as  those 
who  now  accept  "  the  queen's  shilling  "  for  want  of  hope 
or  sustenance,  but  often  exiled  aristocrats,  ambitious 
marauders  like  the  followers  of  Cortes  and  Pizarro,  or  of 
Drake  or  Frobisher,  who  combined  love  of  strange 
experiences  with  the  chance  of  making  a  rapid  and 
amazing  fortune. 

Thus  the  Hellenic  people  not  only  came  to  cover  a  spread  of  Greek 

,  r     i-  .1/^1  1        ,1         civilization  and 

larger  area  of  diverse  country,  the  Greek  peninsula,  the  enterprise  east 
whole   coast   of    Asia    Minor    from    the    Hellespont    to 
Mount  Taurus,  and  all  the  intervening  islands  down  to 

*  This  was  in  Syria  and  Palestine  in  200  B.  C.  "  Greek  Life  and  Thought," 
page  494. 

fl  have  mvself  found  traces  of  very  old  Greek  writing  on  a  temple  over 
against  Wadi  Haifa  in  Nubia,  higher  up  the  Nile  than  Abu  Simbel. 


74  -A  Survey  of  Greek  Civilization. 

Crete,  but  individuals  of  the  race,  chiefly  as  mercenary 
soldiers,  but  also  as  pirates  and  buccaneers,  scattered 
into  a  far  wider  region,  and  learned  the  products  and 
ways  of  divers  men.  These  were  the  pioneers  of  those 
later  colonies,  long  after  the  Ionic  migration,  which 
carried  Greek  civilization  and  Greek  enterprise  as  far  as 
Sicily,  Cumae  in  Italy,  and  even  Massilia  (Marseilles) 
in  the  West,  while  it  reached  at  least  to  Phaselis 
(Pamphylia)  in  the  East,  and  was  only  stayed  by- 
stringent  restrictions  from  reaching  up  the  Nile  to 
Memphis.  But  Naucratis  was  there,  and  presently 
Cyrene,  from  which  the  oasis  of  Jupiter  Ammon  was 
reached  by  Greeks  before  Pindar's  time.  It  was 
sought  as  an  oracle,  but  the  Greeks  would  not  have 
been  Greeks  if  they  had  not  combined  their  religion 
Preservation  of  with  a  bit  of  trading.  The  most  surprising  feature  in 
individuality.'  this  so  widely-spread  and  parcelled-out  race  was  the 
distinctness  with  which  its  nationality  was  preserved. 
There  seems  to  have  been  no  difficulty  whatever  in 
distinguishing  a  Greek  from  a  non-Greek  population, 
and  in  spite  of  all  the  many  colonies,  and  the  necessary 
intermarriages  of  the  colonists  with  the  natives,  we  do 
not  hear  of  mongrel  populations,  about  whose  Hellene- 
dom  there  was  any  doubt,  except  perhaps  the  coast 
cities  in  Pamphylia,  at  the  easternmost  extreme  of  the 
Greek  world,  Selge  and  Phaselis,  or  whatever  they  may 
have  been  called,  and  some  cities  of  Cyprus,  which 
showed  so  strong  an  infusion  of  Samnites  as  to  make 
their  nationality  doubtful.  But  these  are  only  few  and 
unimportant  exceptions,  very  obscure  in  history  ;  the 
main  fact  remains  as  I  have  stated  it. 
variety  of  Within    Hellenedom,    however,   the     uniformity    we 

ligion,  etc., in       should  consequently  have  expected  was  not  to  be  found. 
There  were  all  manner  of  traditions,  from  those  of  the 


First  Two  Centuries  of  Historical  Development.     75 

Spartan  noble,  who  was  considered  by  every  Hellene  the 
aristocrat  of  the  race,  down  to  the  obscure  islander  who 
lived  on  the  rocks  of  Seriphos  or  Pholegandros  by  labo- 
rious fishing.  These  were  Dorians,  yEolians,  Ionians, 
Boeotians,  Thessalians,  all  speaking  their  various  dialects; 
all  worshiping  local  gods,  which  were  only  externally 
harmonized  by  the  poets  and  priests  who  sought  a 
union  of  religious  sentiment ;  all  developing  many  differ- 
ences of  custom  into  distinct  and  even  contrasted  codes 
of  law.  This  is  the  variety  in  unity,  the  harmony 
in  discord,   which   produced    that  extraordinary  many-   Many-sidedness 

.....  -     .  r     .  .    of  the  Greeks. 

sidedness  that  is  one  01  the  secrets  of  the  permanence  of 
Greek  culture.  It  fits  every  phase  of  modern  civilized 
life  in  some  respect,  in  some  department  of  art,  in  some 
development  of  politics. 

I  know  not  that  I  can  better  illustrate  this  Hellenic 
unity,  shown  (as  Grote  expounded  long  ago)  by  a 
common  language,  a  common  religion,  and  common 
festivals,  than  by  imagining  the  United  States  with  the 
central  control  so  weakened  and  laid  asleep  that  each 
state  followed  its  own  bent,  and  worked  out  its  own 
problems,  without  check  from  Washington,  even  in  the 
case   of   local   quarrels   and    civil   wars.     There   would   Hellenic  unity; 

.1  •  r  •  1         r      1  •  t  analogy  of 

remain  that  community  of   sentiment,   the  feeling  of  a  United  states. 

common  origin,  a  common  development,  language,  and 

general  likeness  in  religion  and  laws,  which  would  make 

the  members  of  all  the  states  still  feel  the  common  bond, 

and  still  unite  occasionally  in  a  common  effort  against 

an    invader,    or   an    enemy   of   foreign    race.      But    the 

many  varieties  of  the  states  in  dialect,  in  mixture  with 

other  populations,  in  conditions  of  climate  and  hence  of 

produce,  would  make  the  contrasts  between  Maine  and 

Texas  far  more   obvious   than    the    deeper  similarities. 

The  discovery  of   steam   reduces  the  enormous  differ- 


76 


A  Survey  of  Greek  Civilization. 


Details  of  early 
Greek  history 
not  extant. 


Greek  world 
of  seventh  and 
sixth  centuries 
B.C. 


ences  otherwise  inevitable  from  the  territorial  vastness  of 
North  America,  tor  the  members  of  the  conglomerate  of 
independent  states  could  pass  from  one  to  the  other  as 
easily  as  the  Greek  in  his  sailing  boat  from  coast  to 
coast. 

Hence  the  history  of  Greece  in  these  early  centuries, 
if  we  possessed  it,  would  be  the  history  of  a  great  num- 
ber of  independent  states,  each  with  its  own  interests, 
quarrels,  legislations,  literature,  traditions.  These  de- 
tails are  nearly  all  lost,  and  perhaps  it  is  so  far  well, 
as  no  single  mind  and  no  single  pen  could  compass 
the  subject,  any  more  than  any  one  man  could  write  the 
history  of  the  counties  of  England,  which  are  merely 
handled  from  the  antiquarian  aspect.*  But  in  the  frag- 
ments of  the  literature  and  in  the  occasional  glimpses  of 
the  doings  of  the  most  important  centers,  there  is 
enough  to  explain  to  us  the  course  which  Greek  history 
as  a  whole  was  taking,  and  the  influences  which  were  al- 
ready producing  wonders  in  literature,  to  be  followed  by 
wonders  in  art,  and  then  by  the  solution  (on  a  small 
scale)  of  every  political  problem  the  world  has  since  en- 
countered. 

Before  we  enter  upon  that  inquiry,  we  may  best  review 
quite  briefly  the  condition  of  the  Greek  world  in  the 
seventh  and  early  sixth  centuries,  in  order  to  show 
the  reader  what  we  mean  by  the  great  contrasts  which 
gave  design  and  richness  to  the  Hellenic  unity.  Begin- 
ning with  the  Peloponnesus  (Morea)  as  the  center,  both 
geographically  and  politically,  of  the  Greek  world, 
we  have  there  the  Dorian  race  dominant  in  the  aris- 
tocracies   of   Corinth,    Argos,    Sparta,    Messene.     Elis, 


♦The  recently  discovered  "Constitution  of  Athens."  which  is  ascribed  to 
Aristotle,  anil  which  has  made  such  a  stir  in  the  literary  world,  was  one  of  a 
set  of  15S  tracts,  each  of  which  described  a  distinct  Hellenic  polity,  with  the 
growth  of  its  laws  and  institutions. 


First  Two  Centuries  of  Historical  Development.     77 


according  to  the  legend,  was  occupied  by  /Etolians  who 
crossed  the  narrow  strait  in  company  with  the  invading 
Dorians,  but  here  also  we  find  in  old  inscriptions  a 
dialect  akin  to  the  Doric,  and  far  removed  from  the 
Ionic  speech.  Each  of  these  Dorian  settlements  except 
Corinth,  which  reaped  the  harvest  of  her  two  seas,  was 
situate  in  a  rich  valley,  which  the  Doric  aristocracy  par- 
celled out  into  lots  for  themselves,  making  the  older 
population  till  the  ground  for  them.  At  Sparta  and 
Argos  these  invaders  succeeded  to  the  traditions  of 
older  and  richer  kingdoms.  Argos  swallowed  up  My- 
cenae, Tiryns,  and  other  ancient  fortresses  in  the  upper 
valley,  and  its  early  success  in  doing  so,  probably  under 
the  despot  Pheidon,  made  a  united  power,  for  some  time 
the  strongest  in  the  Peloponnesus.*  We  can  see  plainly 
enough  in  the  Iliad  that  Argos  was  an  important  but 
new  power,  when  that  poem  assumed  its  present  shape. 
The  whole  kingdom  of  Diomede,  his  acts,  his  valor,  are 
so  to  speak  carved  out  of  the  possessions  of  Agamem- 
non of  Mycenae.  Diomede  is  the  young,  enterprising, 
valorous  chief  who  stands  grievously  in  the  light  of  the 
older  and  more  widely  recognized  "king  of  men."  But 
both  the  fifth  and  tenth  books,  which  narrate  Diomede' s 
wonderful  achievements,  may  be  taken  out  without 
affecting  the  plot  of  the  poem,  the  tenth  being  notori- 
ously a  later  and  independent  lay.  This  old  supremacy 
of  Argos  is  expressed  in  the  legend  of  the  "Return 
of  the  Heracleidae ' '  by  the  assignment  of  Argos  to 
the  eldest  son  of  Heracles,  Temenus,  from  whom  the 
ruling  clan  was  called  Temenid.  But  although  there 
was  a  moment    when    Pheidon  bid    fair   to   assert    this 


Dorian 
settlements. 


Temporary 
supremacy  of 
Argos. 


*  The  early  distinction  of  Mycenae  and  Tiryns  I  have  inferred  from  internal 
evidence,  though  it  does  not  agree  with  the  reports  of  late  Greek  historians. 
The  date  of  Pheidon  I  place,  with  E.  Curtius,  about  660  B.  C,  not  743,  as  usual 
in  Greek  histories. 


78  A  Survey  of  Greek   Civilization. 

supremacy  over  the  whole  peninsula,  the  power  of  Argos 
waned  before  the  better  organization  of  Sparta. 

Here  too,  as  the  Iliad  and  Odyssey  testify,  there  was 
an  old  and  famous  royalty,  and  the  splendid  "bee-hive" 
tomb  found  at  Amyclae  (Vaphio)  seems  to  show  that  its 
seat  was  somewhat  south  of  the  five  villages  afterwards 
so  famous  in  history.  Nor  is  this  barrow  an  isolated 
Wealth  and        testimony.     The  tomb-reliefs  to  be  seen  in  the  museum 

luxurv  of  earlv  J  . 

spartan  nobii-  at  Sparta,  and  the  poetry  of  Alcman,  composed  tor 
the  Spartan  nobility,  show  an  early  wealth  and  luxury 
widely  different  from  the  "black  bread  and  broth" 
of  Lycurgus.  The  site  of  their  capital  shows  clearly 
enough  what  the  conquerors  had  in  view.  In  ordinary 
histories,  indeed,  the  harsh  training  of  their  lawgivers 
and  the  rude  plainness  of  their  manners  has  somewhat 
reflected  itself  into  their  supposed  home,  and  made  men 
of  books  talk  of  the  wild  mountain  home,  the  rugged 
glens  of  Taygetus,  the  stony  and  poor  soil,  as  conditions 
fuggldnfss  of d  of  Spartan  national  character.  This  whole  conception  is 
Sparta  a  myth.     false>  &g  j  iearned  when  I  went  to  look  at  the  place. 

The  town  was  in  holiday,  and  athletic  sports  were  going  on 
in  commemoration  of  the  establishment  of  Greek  liberty. 
Crowds  of  fine  tall  men  were  in  the  very  wide  regular  streets, 
and  in  the  evening  this  new  town  vindicated  its  ancient  title  of 
"spacious."  But  the  very  first  glance  at  the  surroundings  of 
,    .         ..  the  place  was  sufficient  to  correct  in  my  mind  a  very  wide- 

A  visit  to  the  ^  J  J 

fertile  vale  of  spread  error,  which  we  all  obtain  from  reading  the  books  of 
people  who  have  never  studied  history  on  the  spot.  We 
imagine  to  ourselves  the  Spartans  as  hardy  mountaineers, 
living  in  a  rude  alpine  country,  with  sterile  soil,  the  rude  nurse 
of  liberty.  They  may  have  been  such  when  they  arrived  in 
prehistoric  times  from  the  mountains  of  Phocis,  but  a  very 
short  residence  in  Laconia  must  have  changed  them  very 
much.  The  vale  of  Sparta  is  the  richest  and  most  fertile  in 
Peloponnesus.  The  bounding  chains  of  mountains  are  sepa- 
rated by  a  stretch,  some  twenty  miles  wide,  of  undulating  hills 


First  Two  Centuries  of  Historical  Development.     79 

and  slopes,  all  now  covered  with  vineyards,  orange  and  lemon 
orchards,  and  comfortable  homesteads  or  villages.  The  great 
chain  on  the  west  limits  the  vale  by  a  definite  line,  but  toward 
the  east  the  hills  that  run  toward  Malea  rise  very  gradually  and 
with  many  delays  beyond  the  arable  grounds.  The  old 
Spartans  therefore  settled  in  the  richest  and  best  country 
available,  and  must  from  the  very  outset  of  their  career  have 
had  better  food,  better  climate,  and  hence  much  more  luxury 
than  their  neighbors. 

We  are  led  to  the  same  conclusion  by  the  art-remains  which  Evidence  from 
are  now  coming  to  light,  and  which  are  being  collected  in  the  art-remains- 
well-built  local  museum  of  the  town.  They  show  us  that  there 
was  an  archaic  school  of  sculpture,  which  produced  votive  and 
funeral  reliefs,  and  therefore  that  the  old  Spartans  were  by  no 
means  so  opposed  to  art  as  they  have  been  represented  in  the 
histories.  The  poetry  of  Alcman,  with  its  social  and  moral 
freedom,  its  suggestions  of  luxury  and  good  living,  shows 
what  kind  of  literature  the  Spartan  rulers  thought  fit  to 
import  and  encourage  in  the  city  of  Lycurgus.  The  whole 
sketch  of  Spartan  society  which  we  read  in  Plutarch's  "  Life  " 
and  other  late  authorities  seems  rather  to  smack  of  imaginary 
reconstruction  on  Doric  principles  than  of  historical  reality. 
Contrasts  there  were,  no  doubt,  between  Dorians  and  Ionians, 
nay  even  between  Spartan  and  Tarentine  or  Argive  Dorians  ; 
but  still  Sparta  was  a  rich  and  luxurious  society,  as  is  confessed 
on  all  hands  where  there  is  any  mention  of  the  ladies  and  their 
homes.  We  might  as  well  infer  from  the  rudeness  of  the 
dormitories  in  the  College  at  Winchester  or  from  the  simplicity 
of  an  English  man-of-war's  mess,  that  our  nation  consisted  of 
rude  mountaineers  living  in  the  sternest  simplicity.* 

It  is  strange  that  no  less  a  mistake,  but  in  precisely  The  pastoral 
the  opposite  direction,  has  been  made  about  the  neigh-  dia  alible.  " 
boring  Arcadia.  Here  a  land  of  real  mountain  rugged- 
ness,  of  harsh  climate  and  ungrateful  soil — the  home  of 
bears  and  wolves — has  been  translated  into  a  scene  of 
perpetual  spring,  peopled  with  piping  shepherds  and 
scarce-clad  nymphs.      Both  the    Laconia   of  the  book- 

*  "  Rambles  and  Studies  in  Greece,"  Mahaffy,  pages  381-3  (3d  edition). 


8o 


A  Survey  of  Greek  Civilization. 


Conservative 
aristocracy 
of  Sparta. 


worm  and  the  Arcadia  of  the  euphuist  are  to  be  expelled 
from  real  history. 

It  seems  indeed  that  most  of  the  Dorian  invaders 
found  it  a  comparatively  easy  task  either  by  conquest  or 
accommodation  to  silence  the  older  population  and 
establish  themselves  as  a  ruling  caste.  In  Messene 
there  were  even  traditions  that  the  invaders  and  natives 
became  friends,  and  coalesced  without  difficulty.  But 
in  Sparta  either  the  Achaeans  were  stronger,  or  the 
invaders  were  themselves  at  variance,  or  there  was 
some  older  stratum  of  population  more  difficult  to  deal 
with — in  short,  the  conquest  of  Laconia  was  not  only 
very  gradual,  but  was  not  really  effected  till  a  great 
individual  genius,  known  as  Lycurgus,  extended  the 
discipline  of  war  and  the  camp  to  the  city,  abolished  the 
greater  part  of  home  education,  and  turned  the  whole 
dominant  caste  into  a  garrison  which  did  nothing  during 
peace  but  prepare  for  war.  The  higher  branches  of 
culture  were  deliberately  neglected  ;  the  sentimental  re- 
lations of  the  sexes  were  postponed  to  the  mere  practical 
production  of  strong  youths  to  serve  the  state  ;  the 
amusements  of  athletics  (without  competition  for  prizes) 
and  of  field  sports  filled  up  the  moments  of  leisure  from 
training  ;  so  that  we  have  in  the  Spartans,  as  they 
emerge  into  history,  the  very  model  of  an  aristocracy 
which  despises  all  occupations  but  war  and  sport,  which 
looks  with  contempt  upon  trade  and  handicraft,  which 
scorns  the  improvements  of  the  age  and  the  novelties  of 
discovery,  and  hugs  with  pride  old  traditions,  rude 
ways  of  life,   primitive  fashions. 

It  has  been  recently  the  fashion  to  diminish  the  credit 
which  older  historians,  and  which  indeed  the  universal 
feeling  of  the  Greeks,  ascribed  to  Lycurgus.  Grote 
in  particular  was  never  weary  of  carping  at  the  Spartan, 


First  Two  Centuries  of  Historical  Development.     81 

in  comparison  with  the  Athenian,  and  it  may  be  assumed 
that  American  readers  will  rather  sympathize  with 
the  great  radical  historian  than  with  the  exponents  of 
conservative  feeling.  Yet  as  even  now  the  American 
citizen,  with  all  his  bold  independence  and  his  republican 
traditions,  can  seldom  divest  himself  of  the  veneration 
which  every  civilized  man  must  feel  for  the  splendor 
of  ancient  nobility,  so  every  sort  and  condition  of  Greek 
radical,  though  he  took  care  not  to  imitate  the  severities 
of  Spartan  discipline  in  his  own  state,  yet  looked  with 
undisguised  pride  at  Sparta,  as  the  example  which  he  Pride  of  Greeks 
could  pit  against  the  Persian  noble  or  the  Roman  aristocracy 
patrician,  as  a  pure  specimen  of  high  and  exclusive 
aristocracy.  It  was  not  Dorian  in  type  ;  not  another 
Dorian  state,  among  the  many  that  existed  in  Sicilv, 
Magna  Graecia,  the  Peloponnesus,  and  the  Carian  coast, 
shows  the  least  similarity  to  it  in  its  life.  The  only 
parallels  were  the  very  doubtful  one  of  Crete,  which 
failed  in  all  the  higher  points  of  comparison,  and  the 
schemes,  actual  or  theoretical,  of  such  men  as  Pytha- 
goras or  Plato,  whose  attempts  were  plainly  copies  of 
the  great  ideas  of  Lycurgus. 

This  very  wonderful  result  I  cannot,  with  many 
German  theorists,  refer  to  a  gradual  growth,  and  to  the  "  Life  of  Lycur- 
shaping  of  circumstances  only.  A  great  individual  faniawjverfr" 
must  have  used  these  conditions  to  carry  out  the  in- 
spiration of  his  genius.  And  yet  all  we  know  of  him  is 
so  confused  and  uncertain  that  he  would  certainly  have 
been  relegated  to  the  region  of  myth,*  had  not  Plu- 
tarch's "Life"  of  him  given  us  a  distinct  picture 
wherein  ages  of  men  have  become  familiar  with  the 
Greek    conception    of     their     greatest    lawgiver.       As 

*  This  has  indeed  been  done  by  more  than  one  skeptical  German  inquirer, 
but  without  attaining  any  large  following. 


82 


A  Survey  of  Greek   Civilization. 


Singularities  of 
Spartan  consti- 
tution, etc. 


Description  of 
Spartan 
funeral 
ceremonies. 


Plutarch's  "  Lives"  are  accessible  to  all,  I  need  not 
cite  from  his  description.  Modern  criticism  has  noth- 
ing to  add  and  very  little  to  take  away  from  his  charm- 
ing sketch.  To  furnish  it  throughout  with  notes  of 
interrogation,  to  question  each  and  every  statement,  is 
of  course  the  cheapest  of  criticism.  But  hitherto  we 
have  made  no  discovery  which  can  explain  to  us  its 
strange  anomalies. 

Why,  for  example,  were  there  two  kings,  not  one? 
And  yet  there  is  no  hint  in  legend  that  the  German 
theory  of  an  early  compromise  is  true,  and  that  these 
kings  represent  the  invaders  and  the  older  race  respec- 
tively. They  are  uniformly  stated  to  be  of  the  same 
origin,  and  their  genealogy  was  even  traced  back  from 
son  to  father  till  they  reached  the  hero  Heracles. 
Why  were  the  ceremonies  which  followed  upon  the 
death  of  either  king  so  strange  and  unlike  Hellenic 
customs  that  Herodotus  turns  aside  to  describe  them 
and  compare  them  to  the  funeral  ceremonies  of  Asiatic 
barbarians  ?*  Why,  in  spite  of  all  this  dignity  of  tra- 
dition, do  we  find  these  kings  dominated  by  the  five 
ephors,  plain  men  chosen  with  no  circumstance  from 
among  the  average  Spartans  to  control  the  whole  state 
and  even  bring  the  kings  to  trial  ?  Why  did  the  luxury 
and  refinement  which  we  can  find  in  the  old  tombs,  and 

*  Herodotus  VI.,  Chap.  LVIII.:  "Such  are  the  honors  paid  by  the  Spartans 
to  their  princes  whilst  alive  ;  they  have  others  after  their  decease.  Messengers 
are  sent  to  everv  part  of  Sparta  to  relate  the  event,  whilst  through  the  city  the 
women  beat  on  a  caldron.  At  this  signal  one  free-born  person  of  each  sex  is 
compelled  under  very  heavv  penalties  to  disfigure  themselves.  The  same 
ceremonies  which  the  Lacedaemonians  observe  on  the  death  of  their  kings 
are  practiced  also  by  the  barbarians  of  Asia  ;  the  greater  part  of  whom,  on  a 
similar  occasion,  use  these  rites.  When  a  king  ofLacedaemon  dies,  a  certain 
number  of  Lacedaemonians,  independent  of  the  Spartans,  are  obliged  from  all 
parts  of  Lacedaemon  to  attend  his  funeral.  When  these  together  with  the 
Helots  and  Spartans,  to  the  amount  of  several  thousands,  are  assembled  in  one 
place  they  begin,  men  and  women,  to  beat  their  breasts;  to  make  loud  and 
dismal  lain. stations ;  always  exclaiming  of  their  last  prince  that  he  was 
of  all  preceding  ones  the  best.  If  one  of  their  kings  dies  in  battle  they 
make  a  representation  of  his  person,  and  carry  it  to  the  place  of  interment  on 
a  bier  richly  adorned.  When  it  is  buried  there  is  an  interval  of  ten  days  from 
all  business  and  amusement,  with  every  Dublic  testimony  of  sorrow." 


First  Two  Centuries  of  Historical  Development.     83 

in  the  allusions  of  Alcman  and  other  lyric  poets,  give 
way  to  the  stern  simplicity  which  became  the  ostentation 
of  historical  Sparta  ?  Why  did  their  love  and  patron- 
age of  art  and  literature  give  way  to  ignorance  and  rude- 
ness? Why  were  their  women  free  from  the  strict  dis- 
cipline of  the  men,  free  from  the  restraints  of  Attic 
or  Ionian  life,  and  yet  for  centuries  not  the  worse  for 
the  wealth  and  unrestrained  liberty  in  which  they  lived. 
Why  in  a  society  where  sexual  relations  were  as  unsenti- 
mental as  possible  were  the  purity  and  dignity  of  the 
female  sex  so  long  and  so  honorably  maintained  ? 

For  all  these  problems  the  reader  must  seek  his 
answer  from  the  historian.  The  writer  upon  Greek 
civilization  has  only  to  state  these  contrasts  to  the  rest  of 
Hellenic  life,  as  one  of  the  elements  of  a  culture  richer 
and  more  various  than  any  other  in  the  Old  World. 

And  what  were  the  ideas  which  were  peculiarly 
derived  from  this  aristocratic  society,  and  spread  abroad 
through  the  Greek  world  ?  First  of  all,  that  dignity  did 
not  mean  luxury,  that  aristocracy  did  not  mean  wealth, 
that  upon  black  bread  and  broth  could  live  a  man  whom 
even  the  tyrant,  who  added  unlimited  power  to  his 
luxury,  looked  upon  with  respect,  if  not  with  envy. 
Secondly,  that  the  very  point  in  which  this  tyrant,  who 
put  himself  above  all  law,  missed  the  mark,  was  that  in 
which  real  nobility  consisted  —  an  unswerving  obedience 
to  the  law,  and  loyal  acceptance  of  its  decrees,  even 
were  they  harsh.  Thirdly,  all  this  conduct  was  based 
upon  the  postponement  of  each  man's  interest  and 
pleasure  to  those  of  the  state,  of  the  common  weal, 
of  the  greatness  of  his  country.  In  almost  every  Greek 
state  the  theory  prevailed  that  the  individual  had  no 
rights  against  the  state  ;  in  none  was  this  theory  so 
loyally  and  unreservedly  carried  out  as  among  the  Spar- 


spartan  prog 

ress  toward 
simplicity. 


Spartan 
women. 


Spartan  high 
ideal  of  conduct 
and  patriotism. 


84 


A  Survey  of  Greek   Civilization. 


Conditions  of 
culture  in  rest 
of  Greece. 


Athens. 


Early  Attic  art. 


t;ins,  who  gloried  in  sacrificing  everything  —  property, 
wife,  children,  comfort — for  the  greatness  and  glory 
of  their  state.  This  is  that  ideal  of  patriotism  which  has 
led  indeed  to  not  a  few  grave  consequences,  to  not  a  few 
signal  injustices,  to  many  terrible  mistakes,  but  still  it  is 
a  noble  feeling,  and  one  which  raises  men  from  the  level 
of  the  savage  or  the  cynic  to  something  loftier  and 
purer,  to  something  deserving  of  immortality. 

What  were  the  conditions  of  culture  in  the  other  states 
of  Greece  and  Asia  Minor,  whose  material  advance  was 
far  greater  than  that  of  Sparta  ?  We  know  very  little 
indeed  of  social  Athens  till  we  come  to  Solon  and 
Pisistratus,  but  we  can  infer  something  from  the  politi- 
cal changes  which  are  chronicled  in  Plutarch's  "Life 
of  Theseus,"  in  Aristotle's  "Constitution  of  Athens," 
and  in  the  allusions  of  other  authors.  We  know  that 
there,  too,  there  was  a  landed  aristocracy,  but  that  the 
poor  people  were  not  of  a  different  or  conquered  race. 
For  the  Attic  people  always  boasted  that  they  were 
autochthonous,  that  is,  native  to  the  soil,  which  proves  at 
all  events  that  all  recollection  of  their  advent,  or  of  the 
displacement  of  an  older  population,  was  gone.  The 
landed  aristocracy  seem  to  have  lived  hospitably,  like 
feudal  lords,  in  the  country,  as  is  told  of  the  elder 
Miltiades,  and  not  without  luxury.  Thucydides  says 
that  it  was  only  recently,  that  is  in  the  fifth  century,  that 
they  had  given  up  wearing  the  flowing  Ionian  robes, 
and  the  tettix  (cicada)  of  gold  in  their  hair.  The  seven- 
teen mutilated  goddesses,  or  perhaps  rather  princesses, 
found  under  the  rubble  gathered  from  the  Persian  fury 
on  the  Acropolis,  are  all  dressed  most  elaborately,  and 
in  divers  colors,  with  their  hair  carefully  plaited  ;  and 
the  rich  effects  which  still  remain  show  how  elaborate 
was  the  taste  of  that  early  day.      The  deep  expression 


86  A  Survey  of  Greek  Civilization. 

which  more  perfect  artists  put  into  the  face  and  form 
was  still  wanting  to  these  stiff  and  ungainly  figures,  with 
their  stereotyped  smile,  but  the  taste  for  luxury  and  the 
splendor  of  the  outward  appointments  are  unmistakably 
there.  We  know  the  same  thing  of  the  early  Attic 
architecture.  Whether  the  material  of  a  temple  was 
marble  or  not,  it  was  covered  with  rich  colors,  and  if 
possible  with  gilded  ornaments,  so  that  the  whole 
modern  notion  of  the  purity  of  white  marble,  and  its 
perfection  as  a  material  for  sculpture  and  for  architec- 
ture, was  almost  foreign  to  the  Greeks.  The  Attic 
ideal  of  splendor  in  a  statue  was  to  have  it  chryselephan- 
tine, gilded,  with  the  exposed  parts  of  the  figure  in 
ivory. 

We  have  unfortunately  no  closer  knowledge  of  their 
No  material         home  life  as  to  its  material  aspect,   as  we  have,    from 

evidence  extant  .  , 

for  Athenian        the   excavated    palaces,    of    the    Mvcenaean    age.     The 

home  life.  .  -  &  .    . 

houses  of  the  Attic  nobles,  nay,  even  of  Solon  and  Pisis- 
tratus,  have  wholly  vanished,  nor  do  I  suppose  that  even 
if  the  latter  dwelt  in  the  Acropolis,  as  some  tyrants  did 
for  safety's  sake  in  other  cities,  his  residence  was  of  any 
real  splendor.  All  we  can  say  about  the  Pisistratids  is 
that  they  carried  out  great  works  for  the  public  adorn- 
Pubiic  works,  meiit  of  their  city.  It  is  but  yesterday  that  Dr.  Dorp- 
feld  discovered  how  they  had  led  great  underground 
conduits  from  some  miles  higher  up  the  Ilissus  round  the 
Acropolis  to  the  spot  where  they  made  the  great  public 
fountain  with  its  nine  mouths,  the  Enneakrounus,  which 
was  still  used  for  all  solemn  purposes  in  Thucydides's 
day.  We  know  too  that  very  similar  work  was  carried 
out  by  their  contemporary  Polykrates  of  Samos,  whereby 
an  engineer  called  Eupalinos  pierced  a  mountain  to 
supply  the  city  with  water.  This  conduit  has  also  been 
overed   (by  Dr.   Fabricius),  and  so  ample  was  the 


First  Two  Centuries  of  Historical  Development.     87 

supply  of  labor  that  over  the  actual  water  conduit  was 
set  a  second  to  enable  the  water  course  to  be  inspected 
and  cleaned. 

These  isolated  cases  prove  what  I  have  long  held  and   Tyrants  the 
argued  in  opposition  to  the  too  political  Grote,  that  the  GreecaeCtfroni°f 
so-called    tyrants   were    materially    the    benefactors    of  "f^iew!  P°mt 
Hellenedom.      They   commanded  the    whole    means    of 
their   respective    cities  ;    they    could    employ    adequate 
slave  labor  ;    they  were  united  through  Greece,    Italy, 
and  Asia  Minor  in  a  certain  brotherhood  of  irrespon- 
sibility,   and    kept    in    such    correspondence  with    each 
other  that    artists  and    poets   passed    from   one  to  the 
other,    and  so  spread  the  knowledge   of   luxuries   and 
letters  among  people  highly  susceptible  to  all  progress, 
but  as  yet  far  behind  Egyptians  and  Babylonians  and 
Assyrians  in  the  comforts  of  life.     Yet  in  two  respects 
they   were   already   superior  :    first,   they    had    already   Athenians  in 

■'  j  1  j  j     advance  of 

obtained  a  wholly  different  view  of  politics  ;  they  had   Egyptians,  etc. 

J  r  J  in  politics. 

learned  to  assert  the  rights  of  the  free  men  ;  they  had 
learned  to  settle  things  by  public  discussion  ;  and  if  the 
rich  were  still  the  masters  of  the  poor,  and  claimed 
the  privileges  of  ancient  descent  or  wealth,  it  only 
required  the  brief  domination  of  a  single  tyrant  who  set 
himself  over  the  whole  population  and  ruled  by  force  of 
arms  to  depress  these  aristocrats  to  the  same  level  and 
to  the  same  rights  as  the  rest  of  the  people.  Hence  the 
intense  hatred  of  the  aristocratic  classes  to  the  tyrants  ; 
hence,  through  aristocratic  influences,  the  perpetual 
tirades  we  find  against  tyrants  in  Greek  literature.  For 
when  the  tyrant  was  assassinated  his  tyranny  still  lived  ; 
the  upper  classes  had  lost  their  advantage  and  never 
regained  it.  Their  sentimental  influence  was  shaken  or 
abolished  ;  they  had  served  the  despot  like  the  rest  of 
the  citizens  ;  they  had  suffered  violence  or  wrong  at  his 


88  .  /  Survey  of  Greek  Civilization. 

hands  without  redress  like  the  meanest  peasant  ;  the 
great  lord  had  lost  his  droits  de  seigneur,  and  with  them 
his    prestige,    forever.     This    was    the    political    gain. 

Advance  in  Secondly,  we  have  a  wonderful  advance  in  letters  ;  we 
have  even  in  the  few  fragments  now  extant  clear 
evidence  that  the  poets  of  that  early  day  were  as 
accomplished  artists,  aye  and  as  keen  thinkers,  as  Words- 
worth and  Tennyson.  No  elaboration  of  style,  no 
subtlety  of  form  was  unknown  to  them.      The  wonderful 

Archiiochus  the  thing  is  that  the  earliest  of  these  lyric  poets,  Archilo- 
"tlyric  chus,  is  as  perfectly  developed  as  any  of  them  in  meter 
and  in  trenchant  style,  as  developed,  indeed,  as  Hein- 
rich  Heine  in  our  own  century.  We  have  remaining  of 
him  only  isolated  lines,  and  in  them  the  aptness  of  the 
meter  and  the  trenchant  vigor  of  the  expression  cannot 
survive  in  any  translation.  The  American  public  who 
want  to  appreciate  such  things  must  sit  down  and  learn 
Greek,  and  that  will  cost  them  time.  But  though  we 
have  of  Archiiochus  such  scanty  remains,  they  enable  us 
perfectly  to  accept  the  unanimous  verdict  of  the  later 
Greek  critics,  who  still  possessed  him,  and  who  agreed 
to  class  him  second  to  Homer  only. 

Yet  it  was  indeed  difficult  to  say  who  was  greate>t  in 

GJltskl>Tic  tnat  wondrous  galaxy  of  poets  that  filled  the  seventh 
and  sixth  centuries,  and  sang  in  all  Greek  lands  from 
Sicily  to  Sardis,  from  Corcyra  to  Cyrene — Alcaeus,  Sap- 
pho, Anacreon,  Ibycus,  Stesichorus,  Simonides,  Pindar, 
not  to  mention  the  lower  forms,  the  satires  of  the  elder 
Simonides  and  of  Hipponax,  and  hosts  of  lesser  names 
that  have  left  but  a  trace  upon  the  stream  of  time.  The 
distinctions  and  difference  of  these  men's  work  are  the 
affair  of  the  historian  of  Greek  literature.  I  need  only 
here  remind  the  reader  that  if  some  of  them  devoted 
themselves  to  choral  hymns  and  odes  to  the  gods,  most 


First  Two  Cenhtries  of  Historical  Development.     89 

of  them  had  stripped  off  theology  as  too  abstract  and  un- 
real, and  spoke  the  passion  of  their  souls,  love,  hatred, 
revenge,  despair,  triumph,  jealousy,  grief,  all  the  joys 
and  sorrows  of  a  stormy  life. 

Of  these  Alcasus  and  Sappho,  imitated  afar  off  by  Aicaeusand 
Horace,  the  Roman  Tom  Moore,  are  most  familiar  to  SaPPho- 
us.  The  twenty  or  thirty  lines  surviving  of  each,  which 
show  us  the  method  of  the  imitation,  are  indeed  of 
the  first  quality,  but  what  are  they  compared  to  what 
we  have  lost  ?  Would  that  the  sands  of  Egypt  might 
yet  deliver  up  to  us  some  further  remnants  of  this  price- 
less literature  !  These  lyric  poets  were  indeed  almost  all 
aristocrats,  meaning  by  that  term  men  of  the  privileged 
classes,  who  despised  the  mob,  but  they  were  exiled  in 
political  troubles,  invited  abroad  to  courts,  tempted  to 
embark  in  traffic,  and  so  attained  a  wide  knowledge  of 
the  world,  and  an  acquaintance  with  men  and  manners. 

As  I  have  already  saiid  repeatedly,  these  poems  are  no 
more  translatable  into  English  than  Gray  or  Burns  are 
into  French.  But  perhaps  the  American  reader  will 
nevertheless  insist  that  he  should  have  some  far-off  ink- 
ling of  their  nature,  so  I  add  here  a  specimen  or  two. 
The  best  notion,   however,   he  can  now  get  of  Sappho   Translation  of 

'  '  &  l  l  Sappho. 

or  Alcaeus  is  from  the  finest  lyrics  of  Horace,  who  had 
these  poets  before  him,  and  copied  not  only  the  meters, 
but  often  the  very  expressions  in  the  Greek  originals. 

SAPPHO. 
I. 
Venus,  bright  goddess  of  the  skies, 
To  whom  unnumber'd  temples  rise, 
Jove's  daughter  fair,  whose  wily  arts 
Delude  fond  lovers  of  their  hearts  ; 
O  !  listen  gracious  to  my  prayer, 
And  free  my  mind  from  anxious  care. 


90  A  Survey  of  Greek  Civilization. 

If  e'er  you  heard  my  ardent  vow, 
Propitious  goddess,  hear  me  now  ! 
And  oft  my  ardent  vow  you've  heard, 
By  Cupid's  friendly  aid  preferr'd, 
Oft  left  the  golden  courts  of  Jove, 
To  listen  to  my  tales  of  love. 

The  radiant  car  your  sparrows  drew  ; 
You  gave  the  word,  and  swift  they  flew, 
Through  liquid  air  they  wing'd  their  way, 
I  saw  their  quivering  pinions  play  ; 
To  my  plain  roof  they  bore  their  queen. 
Of  aspect  mild,  and  look  serene. 

Soon  as  you  came,  by  your  command, 
Back  flew  the  wanton  feathered  band, 
Then,  with  a  sweet  enchanting  look, 
Divinely  smiling,  thus  you  spoke  : 
"  Why  didst  thou  call  me  to  thy  cell  ? 
Tell  me,  my  gentle  Sappho,  tell. 

"  What  healing  medicine  shall  I  find 
To  cure  thy  love-distemper'd  mind? 
Say,  shall  I  lend  thee  all  my  charms, 
To  win  young  Phaon  to  thy  arms  ? 
Or  does  some  other  swain  subdue 
Thy  heart  ?  my  Sappho,  tell  me,  who  ? 

"Though  now,  averse,  thy  charms  he  slight, 
He  soon  shall  view  thee  with  delight ; 
Though  now  he  scorns  thy  gifts  to  take, 
He  soon  to  thee  shall  offerings  make  ; 
Though  now  thy  beauties  fail  to  move, 
He  soon  shall  melt  with  equal  love." 

Once  more,  O  Venus,  hear  my  prayer, 
And  ease  my  mind  of  anxious  care  ; 
Again  vouchsafe  to  be  my  guest, 
And  calm  this  tempest  in  my  breast  ! 
To  thee,  bright  queen,  my  vows  aspire  : 
O  grant  me  all  my  heart's  desire: 


First  Two  Centuries  of  Historical  Development.     91 

II. 

More  happy  than  the  gods  is  he 
Who,  soft  reclining,  sits  by  thee  ; 
His  ears  thy  pleasing  talk  beguiles, 
His  eyes  thy  sweetly-dimpled  smiles. 

This,  this,  alas  !  alarm'd  my  breast, 
And  robb'd  me  of  my  golden  rest  : 
While  gazing  on  thy  charms  I  hung, 
My  voice  died  faltering  on  my  tongue. 

With  subtle  flames  my  bosom  glows, 
Quick  through  each  vein  the  poison  flows  : 
Dark  dimming  mists  my  eyes  surround  ; 
My  ears  with  hollow  murmurs  sound. 

My  limbs  with  dewy  chillness  freeze, 
On  my  whole  frame  pale  tremblings  seize, 
And  losing  color,  sense,  and  breath, 
I  seem  quite  languishing  in  death.* 

The  last  of  the  series  is  to  us  the  best  known,  because 
large  portions  of  his  works  have  survived.  But  he  lived  Pindar, 
on  the  threshold  of  a  new  epoch  ;  he  even  lived  to  see 
the  great  national  struggle  which  remodeled  all  Greek 
politics  and  Greek  society,  yet  he  was  of  the  old,  and 
belonged  to  the  past  ;  not  only  the  city  (Thebes)  to 
which  he  belonged,  but  the  man  himself  was  unable  to 
appreciate  the  new  era.  The  modern  reader  finds  him 
now,  as  the  Roman  reader  did,  so  elaborate  and  artificial 
that  his  true  merits  are  not  easily  to  be  estimated.  No 
great  poet  is  bound  to  be  obvious  or  even  easy  ;  but  he  ^  artificOiiit^ 
is  only  condoned  his  obscurity  because  the  ideas  he 
grasps,  or  endeavors  to  grasp,  are  vast  and  beyond  our 
clear   vision.      His  case    is   without   excuse,    if,    as   Mr. 

*  These  versions  lose  all  the  transcendent  beauty  of  expression  in  the  original. 
But  one  thing  they  cannot  change.  I  will  call  it  the  modern  flavor  of  this 
poetry.  In  no  respect  has  the  version  changed  or  modified  this  striking 
feature.  Let  it  be  remembered  that  Sappho  lived  more  than  five  centuries  be- 
fore the  Christian  era. 


92  A  Survey  of  Greek   Civilization. 


George  Meredith  does  nowadays,  he  labors  to  envelop 
every-day  platitudes  in  the  contorted  grammar  or  the 
inverted  diction  which  demands  careful  analysis,  and 
seeks  to  cheat  the  reader  into  a  belief  that  what  is  made 
difficult  of  comprehension  is  therefore  well  worth  being 
understood.  Pindar,  to  my  mind,  is  often  guilty  of 
this  fault.  His  elaborate  meter  and  rich  vocabulary 
Pindar's  often    conceal    ideas    obvious    and    tame    enough    when 

obscurity.  .  .  ,  . 

stated  in  simple  words.  But  his  duty  was  to  be  stately, 
to  produce  an  effect  by  the  music  and  the  march  of  his 
processional  hymns,  to  affect  men's  minds  by  great 
words,  set  in  a  noble  framework  of  rhythm  and  of  song, 
and  so  we  may  lay  aside  our  criticism  and  take  him  as  a 
man  not  only  successful  in  doing  what  he  attempted,  but 
even  in  delighting  modern  schoolmasters  with  the 
difficulties  of  his  interpretation,  and  the  satisfaction  of 
thinking  that  his  perfections  are  only  known  to  those 
who  have  mastered  all  the  technicalities  of  his  art. 

We  are  rather  concerned  with  hearing  from  him  what 
Pindars giori-  we  can  concerning  the  society  in  which  he  lived.  He 
past.'0"  °f  the  does  not  say  much  about  the  present.  He  is  concerned 
chiefly  in  glorifying  the  present  by  means  of  the  past. 
The  city  that  he  praises  is  great  because  of  its  ancient 
splendors,  and  because  it  was  the  home  of  old  gods  and 
heroes.  The  individual  that  he  praises  is  splendid 
because  he  has  shown  by  his  prowess  the  value  of  high 
descent,  and  the  glorious  side  of  atavism.  Therefore, 
His  idealism.  as  compared  with  the  realism  of  many  of  the  lyric  poets 
such  as  Archilochus,  he  represents  the  ideal  side,  the 
glories  of  legend  and  tradition,  the  greatness  and  value 
of  the  past.  The  one  fact  that  a  poet  with  this  dominant 
feature  should  have  been  employed  by  all  manner  of 
Greeks  to  compose  triumphal  odes,  shows  not  only  that 
there  was  a  solidarity  of  tastes  and  interests  among  the 


First  Two  Centuries  of  Historical  Development.     93 

Greeks,  but  also  that  the  better  classes  already  stood  on 
a  very  high  level  of  culture.  The  poems  are  all  difficult, 
elaborate,  to  some  extent  unreal  ;  the  other  great  poet 
of  this  day,  Simonides,  was,  so  far  as  we  can  tell,  easy 
and  clear  ;  yet  there  was  room  for  both  in  the  affections 
of  the  public.  But  then  Pindar  celebrated  Olympic 
victories  at  solemn  feasts,  when  the  pomp  of  a  proces- 
sion suggested  splendor  and  gorgeous  imagery.  Simon-  Pindar  co„_ 
ides  is  best  known  by  his  epitaphs,  where  such  qualities  simonk^s!'1 
were  out  of  place.  However  pompous  even  the  threnoi 
of  Pindar,  when  the  rich  man's  burial  was  conducted 
with  ceremony,  the  words  that  marked  the  resting  place 
of  the  warrior,  the  maiden,  and  the  sage  needed  but 
terseness  and  the  pathos  of  simplicity.  So  it  is  that 
while  Pindar  is  now  intensely  ancient — I  feel  sure  he 
seemed  so  to  the  men  of  the  next  century* — Simonides  Modernness 
might  have  written  to-day.  Take,  for  example,  his 
famous  lament  of  Danse,  when  shut  up  with  her  infant 
and  sent  adrift  upon  the  sea  : 

When  rude  around  the  high-wrought  ark 
The  tempests  raged,  the  waters  dark 
Around  the  mother  tossed  and  swelled  ; 
With  not  unmoistened  cheek,  she  held 
Her  Perseus  in  her  arms,  and  said  : 
"What  sorrows  bow  this  hapless  head  ! 
Thou  sleep  'st  the  while,  thy  gentle  breast 
Is  heaving  in  unbroken  rest ; 
In  this  our  dark  unjoyous  home, 
Clamped  with  the  rugged  brass,  the  gloom 
Scarce  broken  by  the  doubtful  light 
That  gleams  from  yon  dim  fires  of  night. 
But  thou,  unwet  thy  clustering  hair, 

Heed  'st  not  the  billows  raging  wild, 


of  Simonides. 


*  The  poet  Cratinus,  living  sixty  years  later,  says  in  an  extant  fragment  that 
Pindar  was  already  consigned  to  silence,  owing  to  the  want  of  taste  of  the 
public.  Had  he  been  great  enough,  such  a  result  would  not  have  ensued. 
But  he  wrote  for  a  special  society,  not  for  all  time. 


94  A  Survey  of  Greek   Civilization. 


The  moanings  of  the  bitter  air, 

Wrapt  in  thy  purple  robe,  my  beauteous  child  ! 
Oh,  seemed  this  peril  perilous  to  thee 
How  sadly  to  my  words  of  fear 
Wouldst  thou  bend  down  thy  listening  ear  ! 
But  now,  sleep  on,  my  child  !     Sleep  thou,  wide  sea  ! 
Sleep,  my  unutterable  agony  ! 
Or  if  my  rash  intemperate  zeal  offend, 
For  my  child's  sake,  my  father,  pardon  me  !  "  * 

Or  this  ode  to  the  vine  : 

Ode  to  the  Mother  of  purple  grapes,  soul-soothing  vine, 

v'"e-  Whose  verdant  boughs  their  graceful  tendrils  twine  ; 

Still  round  this  urn,  with  youth  unfailing,  bloom, 
The  gentle  slope  of  old  Anacreon's  tomb. 
For  so  the  unmixed-goblet-loving  sire, 
Touching  the  live-long  night  his  amorous  lyre 
Even  low  in  earth,  upon  his  brows  shall  wear 
The  ruddy  clustering  crowns  thy  branches  bear. 
Where,  though  still  fall  the  sweetest  dews,  the  song 
Distilled  more  sweetly  from  that  old  man's  tongue,  t 

I  don't  know  that  it  would  be  fair  to  present  Pindar 
similarly  in  an  English  dress.      Those  who  cannot  read 
him  in  the  original  must  imagine  him  the  Gray  of  Greek 
poetry,    but    more    complex    and  elaborate  than  Gray. 
Pindar  the  He   spoke    of   course   only    to    the    upper    classes,    but 

adstocracy.  yet  rather  to  the  wealthy  upper  classes  than  those  of 
the  purest  blood.  For  Sparta  he  wrote  nothing,  for 
Athens  almost  nothing.  Rich  Sicilian  tyrants,  and  the 
rich  mercantile  men  of  /Egina,  Cyrene,  and  other  such 
places,  possessed  more  ambition  to  shine  as  the  purest  of 
the  race,  and  more  means  to  pay  the  costly  artist.  We 
may  then  infer  that  at  the  Olympic  and  other  public 
games,  these  politically  inferior  states  claimed  their 
full  share  of  importance,  and  took  their  places  among 

*  Mi'.man,  page  1Q3. 
t  Milman,  page  194. 


First  Two  Centuries  of  Historical  Development.     95 

the  democracy  of  Greek  polities.  We  know  that  at 
Olympia  and  at  Delphi  cities  insignificant  in  history  had 
the  most  splendid  of  those  treasure-houses,  in  which  the 
offerings  of  the  state  and  its  citizens  were  displayed.  It 
is  but  recently,  for  example,  that  the  French  archaeolo- 
gists have  discovered  the  treasury  of  the  Siphnians* 
at  Delphi,  which  was  more  splendid  than  any  of  the  rest. 
But  then  there  had  been  gold  mines  at  Siphnos,  and 
while  they  lasted  the  island  was  very  wealthy. 

Pindar  dwelt  in  Thebes,   which  was    rather  despised 
among'  its  neighbors  for    want    of    culture,    and    noted   The  reputation 

o  »  of  Bceotia  for 

for   rich  living-  •    vet,   as  is   always  the  case  with  great  stupidity  un- 

o  >     J       '  .  .      .  ,    deserved. 

Greek  poets,  we  can  trace  no  inferiority,  no  want  of 
training,  in  this  Boeotian  bard.  We  begin  to  doubt 
whether  the  land  which  produced  Hesiod,  Pindar, 
Corinna,  Epaminondas,  Pelopidas,  and  Plutarch,  was 
not  maligned  by  the  rest  of  Greece,  just  as  the  ass 
and  the  goose,  which  are  among  the  most  intelligent  of 
domesticated  creatures,  have  been  universally,  and  yet 
most  falsely,  set  down  as  embodiments  of  stupidity.  But 
in  a  profession  such  as  his,  which  brought  him  into  con- 
nection with  every  city  in  Greece,  his  home  was  really  of 
little  importance.  He  was  the  poet  laureate  of  all 
Hellenic  lands,  replacing  with  his  peculiar  art,  and  with 
those  choral  processions  and  dances  accompanied  by 
music  and  poetry,  the  old  Homeric  bard,  who  wandered 
from  court  to  court,  alone,  and  depending  upon  his 
simple  cithara  to  aid  his  declamation.  But  Pindar  was 
nothing  if  not  gorgeous.  In  complexity  of  meter,  in  the  gorgeousness. 
elaborate  stateliness  of  the  performance,  possibly  in  the 
composition  of  the  music,  which  was  as  essentially  part 
of  his  work  as  the  text,  this  lyrical  symphonist,  like 
Wagner  in  our  own  day,  combined  many  arts  in  such  a 

♦Siphnos  was  an  obscure  little  island  in  the  ..Egean. 


96  A  Survey  of  Greek  Civilization. 

way  as  to  produce  a  wonderful  effect,  and  one  which  could 
not  be  imitated  by  better  men,  or  with  lesser  means. 
In  great  contrast  to  this  climax  of  choric  composition 
The  philosophic   are  t)ie  simple  iambics  and  elegiacs  of  the  more  philo- 

and  reflective  *  °  * 

poetry  of  Solon,  sophical  and  reflective  poets,  of  whom  the  wise  Solon, 
living  nearly  a  century  earlier  than  Pindar,  is  the  most 
prominent  example.  We  shall  come  presently  to  his 
political  side,  but  his  poetry  is  not  less  remarkable  than 
that  of  Pindar,  and  for  the  very  opposite  qualities, 
simplicity  and  directness,  an  utter  absence  of  splendor, 
but  a  great  depth  and  breadth  of  good  sense,  and  of 
that  wisdom  which  raised  him  to  rank  among  the  Seven 
Sages  of  early  Greece.  It  is  again  to  the  inestimable 
Plutarch,  whose  "Lives"  should  be  under  the  hand 
of  every  one  that  reads  this  book,  that  we  owe  a  lively 
picture  of  Solon  and  his  times.  But  his  many  quotations 
from  the  poet-statesman  we  now  know  to  have  been 
taken  from  Aristotle's  "Constitution  of  Athens,"  where 
we  have  recently  found  them  in  somewhat  fuller  form. 
These  fragments,  taken  from  what  we  may  call  his 
"  Soliloquies,"  the  volume  by  which  he  was  best  known, 

Translation  of  are  most  striking  from  their  modern  tone,  their  plain  and 
clear  way  of  looking  at  men  and  things. 

SOLON. 

Ne'er  shall  our  city  foil  by  doom  of  Jove, 

Or  sentence  of  the  immortal  powers  above. 

So  strong  the  high-born  ruler  of  the  land, 

Pallas  Athene,  lifts  her  guardian  hand, 

But  thine  own  sons,  O  Athens,  are  thy  fate, 

And,  slaves  to  gain,  destroy  the  unconquered  state. 

Fierce  demagogues  unjust,  o'er  whom  shall  flow, 

For  their  dark  crimes,  a  bitter  tale  of  woe  ; 

Whose  pampered  wills  brook  no  restraint,  nor  rest, 

Enjoying,  with  calm  hearts,  good  fortune's  feast* 

*  Milman,  page  197. 


First  Two  Centuries  of  Historical  Development.     97 


Very  probably  the  wisdom  which  seems  to  us  in 
the  nineteenth  century  tolerably  obvious,  was  not  quite 
so  much  so  six  hundred  years  before  Christ  ;  but  such 
reflections  have  their  weight  at  all  times,  when  uttered 
by  a  mind  which  has  put  them  into  practical  execution. 
The  reform  of  the  laws   of  Athens  by  Solon  was  not   Political  re- 

t       r  1  •         1  •  >-r«i  •  <       >     forms  at  Athens 

the  nrst  such  attempt  in  that  city.  I  he  constitution  had  previous  to 
been  already  undergoing  wise  modifications,  first  appar- 
ent when  Theseus  had  gathered  most  of  Attica  into  one 
state  at  Athens  ;  then  when  the  royalty  had  given  way  to 
temporary  magistrates  (687  B.  C.)  ;  then  when  the  crimi- 
nal code  of  Draco  had  shown  that  manslaughter  was  an 
offense  not  only  against  the  clan  of  the  victim  but  against 
the  community.  But  these  changes  were  not  without 
many  counterbalancing  disturbances,  and  so  it  was  cer- 
tainly the  intolerable  state  of  internal  discord  at  Athens 
which  induced  the  majority  to  call  upon  the  popular  poet 
who  had  done  at  Athens  for  the  war  against  Megara 
what  Tyrtseus  had  done  at  Sparta  for  that  against  Mes- 
sene,  to  put  an  end  to  the  confusion,  and  save  the  state. 
I  may  mention  in  passing  that  one  of  the  oldest  frag- 
ments of  actual  legislation  extant  is  the  broken  slab 
which  tells  of  the  arrangements  for  the  settlers  sent 
to  Salamis  after  Solon's  victory.* 

The  obvious  part  for  Solon  to  play  was  that  of  tyrant, 
that  is  to  say  of  irresponsible  ruler,  who  got  a  body-  fob" a  tyrant1 
guard  from  his  fellow-citizens  to  protect  him,  and  then 
turned  it  into  a  permanent  means  of  coercing  his  rivals 
and  opponents.  Such  things  had  been  done  a  hundred 
times  in  Greece,  and  we  still  read  in  Solon's  confessions 
how  his  friends  sneered  at  him  as  an  unambitious  fool  for 


*This  was  found  three  or  four  years  ago,  during  the  excavations  on  the 
Acropolis,  where  the  rubbish  which  had  been  used  to  make  a  new  and  larger 
platform  for  building,  and  which  consisted  of  the  ruins  left  by  the  Persians,  has 
yielded  many  valuable  relics  to  modern  research. 


98 


A  Survey  of  Greek  Civilization. 


I  j  t.iiiny  of 

Pisistratus. 


Solon  not  a 
democrat. 


Solon  the  type 
of  the  moderate 
reformer  ol 

to-<lav. 


not  seizing  the  opportunity.  But  Solon  was  too  morally 
pure,  too  politically  simple,  to  adopt  this  unscrupulous, 
but  practical  course.  He  made  his  laws,  and  left  them 
without  adequate  sanction.  There  was  no  power  in  the 
hands  of  the  majority  to  secure  their  enforcement.  So 
it  required  the  moderate  and  wise  tyranny  of  Pisistratus 
(560-510  B.  C.)  to  carry  out,  if  not  all,  at  least  the  ma- 
jority of  Solon's  laws,  and  in  any  case  to  put  down 
the  most  crying  abuse  of  that  day  —  the  oppression 
of  the  poor  by  the  rich,  of  the  peasant  by  the  noble. 

Solon,  and  indeed  Pisistratus  also,  was  far  removed 
from  the  vain  notion  of  universal  suffrage,  or  from 
putting  the  life  and  property  of  the  propertied  classes 
into  the  power  of  the  hungry  masses.  The  whole  of 
Solon's  arrangements  were  based  on  the  principle  that 
wealth  was  not  only  a  respectable  thing  in  an  individual 
but  a  guarantee  of  his  conduct  to  the  state.  Democracy 
in  one  sense  was  not  only  unknown  to  him,  but  he 
would  have  turned  from  it  in  horror.  For  no  Greek  that 
ever  lived  believed  in  the  masses,  in  the  worth  of  slaves 
and  barbarians,  in  the  wisdom  of  any  but  educated  men. 

But  as  the  remedying  of  injustice  was  the  main  feature 
of  Solon's  policy,  so  also  he  shows  the  reasonable 
moderation  of  a  philosopher,  not  sweeping  away  what 
was  old  and  respectable,  not  breaking  with  tradition  like 
a  vulgar  radical,  but  endeavoring  to  make  evil  out  of 
good,  history  out  of  change,  progress  out  of  the  great 
fermentation  which  threatened  to  explode  the  state. 
The  poems  of  Solon  as  we  have  them  express  all  these 
moderate  and  wise  principles,  nor  do  I  know  that  there 
are  any  fragments  of  the  period  which  prove  more 
thoroughly  what  I  always  insist  on  as  the  modernness  of 
Greek  civilization.  If  Solon  were  to  rise  from  the  dead 
now.  he  would  accommodate  himself  in  a  few  days  to  the 


First  Two  Centuries  of  Historical  Development.     99 

material  changes  in  civilized  life  ;  the  method  of  think- 
ing, the  logic  employed  in  arguments,  he  would  not  find 
in  any  way  strange.  A  baron  or  a  monk  from  the 
Middle  Ages  would  be  at  far  greater  loss  to  find  his  foot- 
ing or  to  follow  the  thoughts  of  men. 

But  if  there  be  still  a  touch  of  antiquity  about  Solon, 
we  shall  find  it  completely  gone  among  those  most  de- 
veloped of  literary  men,  the  Attic  historians  and  orators. 

As  Solon  and  Lycurgus  are  our  greatest  specimens  of 
early  lawgivers,  so  Periander  and  Pisistratus  are  of  Greek  tyrants. 
the  early  despots  or  tyrants,  who  contributed  so  much  to 
breaking  down  the  boundaries  between  nobles  and  peas- 
ants in  their  respective  states,  and  who  also  disseminated 
art  and  literature  by  their  enlightened  patronage.  We 
hear  terrible  things  about  these  tyrants  from  Greek 
prose  writers.  Herodotus,  Xenophon,  Plato,  and  many 
others  paint  the  horrors  of  their  acts,  and  the  hideous 
vices  that  poison  their  souls  and  ruin  their  own  happi- 
ness. And  yet  from  the  earliest  to  the  latest  epochs  of 
Greek  history,  tyrants  are  a  well-known  class,  ruling 
many  cities  all  through  the  Greek  world  and  individually 
respected  and  esteemed,  though  they  belong  to  this 
abominable  order.  The  fact  is  that  the  awful  pictures  of  picture  of 
the  tyrant's  soul  *  and  of  his  doings  are  either  theoretical  literature  not  to 
sketches  of  what  happens  to  ambitious  men  when  all 
restraints  are  removed,  or  else  aristocratic  lamentations 
over  the  fall  of  the  nobility  and  the  protection  which 
these  men  accorded  to  the  masses.  For  to  the  tyrant 
the  support  of  the  people  was  necessary  against  the 
revenge,  the  plots,  the  slander,  of  the  aristocracy  which 
he  had  coerced  and  subdued,  and  from  whose  outrages 
he  protected  many  a  humble  home.     The  whole  of  the 


he  trusted. 


*The  most  celebrated  is  probably  that  in  the  ninth  book  of  Plato's  "  Repub- 
lic," which  can  be  read  in  Mr.  Jowett's  excellent  translation. 


roo 


A  Survey  of  Greek   Civilization. 


The  function 
of  the  tyrant 
in  Greece. 


Modern  par- 
allel of 
Mehemet  Ali. 


anti-despotic  literature  comes  from  aristocrats,  from  the 
men  who  told  Solon  what  a  fool  he  was  to  refrain 
from  seizing  this  sort  of  power,  and  gives  us  pictures  of 
the  worst  sort  of  despot,  avoiding  all  citation  of  the 
better  instances.  Such  men  as  Periander  and  Pisistratus 
were  certainly  capable  of  high-handed  proceedings  ; 
they  did  not  scruple  to  take  the  life  of  an  opponent  ; 
they  raised  money  when  they  wanted  it  by  requisitions 
which  may  have  been  often  oppressive.  But  the  com- 
merce of  Corinth  first  developed  into  greatness  under 
Periander  ;  the  art  of  Athens  grew  under  Pisistratus,  and 
if  we  seek  a  parallel  case  to  illustrate  their  motives  in  our 
own  century,  we  shall  choose  Mehemet  Ali,  the  first  great 
viceroy  of  Egypt,  who  rose  from  the  ranks  by  his  cour- 
age and  his  astuteness,  got  rid  of  a  turbulent,  unjust, 
violent  military  aristocracy  (the  Mamelukes)  by  a  great 
massacre,  and  then  brought  his  country  out  of  the 
savagery  of  Turkish  medievalism  into  the  path  of  Euro- 
pean progress.*  But  for  Mehemet  Ali,  Egypt  would 
now  be  in  the  condition  of  Armenia  or  Syria,  without 
proper  laws  or  roads,  or  trade  or  contact  with  the  west- 
ern world.  This  great  man  had  indeed  schemes  of  con- 
quest which  were  only  checked  by  the  interference  of  all 
Europe,  but  his  internal  management  of  Egypt  was 
a  wonderful  advance  upon  the  Mamelukes.  Life  and 
property  were  safe ;  travelers  could  wander  at  their 
ease  from  Cairo  to  Khartoum  ;  agriculture  and  trade  in- 
creased tenfold,  and  the  occasional  acts  of  high-handed 
justice  which  swept  away  a  detected  criminal,  or  dis- 
graced a  corrupt  official,  were  probably  far  more  efficient 
in  teaching  morals  to  such  a  people  than  the  more  cum- 
brous proceedings  of  constitutional  authorities. 


*  Cf.  an  article  on  this  remarkable  man    and   his  policy  by   the  well-known 
diplomatist,  Count  Benedelti,  in  Rrvue  des  Deux  Mondes  for  August  I,  1895. 


First  Two  Centuries  of  Historical  Development.    101 

The  early  Greek  tyrants  were  indeed  very  seldom  up- 
starts like  Mehemet  Ali,    Polykrates  of  Samos,   or  like   Encouragement 

J  by  the  tyrants 

Agathocles  of  Syracuse,  so  prominent  in  the  days  of  the   of  art  an.t' 

0  J  r  J  country  life. 

early  successors  of  Alexander.  They  were  mostly  nobles 
who  saw  a  new  career  in  becoming  the  champions  of  the 
people.  It  is  for  this  cause  that  most  of  them  had  not  only 
a  desire  to  promote  art,  but  good  taste  in  doing  so.  A 
credible  though  not  accredited  tradition  ascribes  to  Pisis- 
tratus  the  very  wise  official  steps  to  save  and  propagate 
the  text  of  the  Homeric  poems,  by  appointing  a  literary 
commission  to  do  it.  Another  tradition  tells  us  that  he 
sought  to  revive  in  the  Athenians,  who  were  deserting-   influence  of 

...  .  Pisistratus  on 

the  country  to  pursue  party  politics  in  the  capital,  Athenians. 
the  taste  for  country  life,  by  promoting  the  feasts  of 
Dionysus,  and  with  them  the  commencement  of  that 
tragedy  which  soon  became  the  peerless  glory  of  Attic 
literature.  For  it  was  not  the  grandiloquence  of  Pindar 
and  the  athletic  feasts  that  tyrants  loved,  seeing  that  en- 
emies and  malcontents  could  use  them  as  a  cloak  for 
dangerous  plots,  but  the  laughter  and  gaiety  of  those 
rude  village  festivities,  which  associated  with  the  harvest 
and  the  vintage  the  worship  of  rustic  deities,  and  the 
dancing  of  choruses  very  different  from  the  stately  pomp 
of  the  Olympic  festival. 

As  if  to  show  us  the  ineradicable  variety  which  marks 
every  epoch  of  early  Greek  life,  we  have  at  the  same  of  AsiaMfnw.5 
period  a  wholly  different  society  and  a  wholly  different 
literature  in  those  rich  and  brilliant  cities  of  Asia  Minor, 
of  which  the  west  coast  was  for  many  a  day  more  Greek 
than  the  Greeks  themselves.  It  is  from  this  focus  of 
culture  that  come  the  lyric  poets,  whom  we  understand, 
seeing  that  they  were  capable  of  imitation  by  Romans 
and  moderns  and  that  they  expressed  individual  pas- 
sion, which  is  like  in  all  ages,  as  opposed  to  public  or 


102  A  Survey  of  Greek   Civilization. 

religious  interests,  which  vary  with  the  society  and  the 
creed  of  every  century.  Alcaeus,  Sappho,  Anacreon, 
and  their  rivals  dwelt  both  in  free  cities  and  at  the  courts 
of  tyrants.  They  were  engaged  in  political  strife  at 
home,  often  in  adventures  abroad,  and  these  lyric  out- 
bursts tell  us  of  the  wild  pleasures  and  poignant  griefs 
of  high,  stormy,  sensitive  minds,  trained  to  a  perfect 
power  of  expression,  and  with  the  most  perfect  canons 
of  taste.  We  may  well  wonder  how  these  brilliant 
Their  startling     poets,  without  any  models  outside  their  own  language, 

perfection  of 

literary  form.  or  in  any  century  antecedent  to  Homer,  should  have 
developed  such  perfect  literary  form.  It  is  perhaps  only 
approached  by  the  literary  excellence  of  much  of  the 
Old  Testament,  which  even  in  pale  translation  maintains 
its  preeminence  above  most  literary  developments  of 
that  kind  among  men.  So  that  if  we  can  deliberately 
maintain  that  the  extant  fragments  of  Alcaeus  and 
Sappho  are  as  perfect  as  the  poems  of  Tennyson — the 
greatest  master  of  poetical  form  in  our  own  generation — 
we  are  stating  a  strange  fact,  but  one  not  without 
analogies,  or  incredible  to  any  student  of  history. 

The  recognition  of  this  extraordinary  perfection  in  the 
cat.eceSof'this  Greek  lyric  poetry  of  the  sixth  century  B.  C.  is,  how- 
fecYio.M1"  ever,  of  great  importance  beyond  the  history  of  litera- 

ture. It  makes  us  infer,  perhaps  not  over  safely,  that  in 
the  sister  arts  men  could  not  tolerate  ugliness  and 
absence  of  clear  design.  The  fine  arts  do  not  submit  to 
any  such  law  of  regularity,  and  as  there  is  no  doubt  that 
contemporary  statues  of  these  poets,  if  such  there  were, 
would  be  as  stiff,  awkward,  and  conventional  as  the 
archaic  statues  of  gods  found  at  the  ancient  Temple  of 
Miletus,  so  we  may  be  sure  that  the  music  to  which  they 
sang  their  hymns  and  secular  poems  would  seem  to  us 
akin  to  the  music  of  barbaric  orientals,  if  not  of  savages. 


other  arts. 


First  Tzvo  Centuries  of  Historical  Development.    103 


But  we  may,  I  think,  conclude  reasonably  that  in  two 
branches  of  human  improvement  this  perfection  of 
expression  must  have  given  great  help,  or  perhaps  been 
the  symptom  of  a  great  advance. 

It  is  certain  that  what  we  call  politics,  or  diplomacy, 
the  settlement  of  questions  of  public  interest  by  discus-   influence  of  the 

poets  on  Greek 

sion,  the  endeavor  to  persuade  by  argument  and  not  to   thought  and 

■  1      •  •  politics. 

coerce  by  force,  the  satisfaction  at  being  convinced  and 
not  bullied  in  a  dispute — all  this  rational  procedure  is 
not  possible  without  a  power  of  language  in  the  speaker, 
a  power  of  comprehension  in  the  hearer,  which  imply  a 
long  and  considerable  training.  It  was  through  their 
poets  that  the  Greeks  got  this  training,  and  we  know 
that  the  power  of  expression,  originally  developed  by 
the  power  of  thinking,  reacts  upon  it,  and  that  the  rising 
generation  is  educated  by  learning  the  language  which 
its  ancestors  have  labored  out  by  slow  degrees.  So, 
therefore,  the  active  and  various  political  movements 
which  took  place  in  Hellenic  lands  in  the  following 
century  could  hardly  have  arisen  so  soon,  were  it  not  for 
the  intellectual  training  of  the  race  through  their  poets. 
The  same  conclusion  may  be  drawn  regarding  phi- 
losophy. Deeper  thinking  concerning  the  origin  of 
things,  the  creation  of  the  world,  its  purpose  and  its 
destiny,  cannot  be  carried  on  without  a  mastery  of 
abstract  terms,  and  a  power  of  making  careful  distinc- 
tions. There  is  wanting  too,  for  any  reasonable  cosmic 
philosophy,  a  lofty  imagination,  which  can  grasp  spiritual 
conceptions  and  deal  with  the  unseen.  The  first  steps  in 
this  direction  were  taken  by  the  so-called  Seven  Wise 
Men  of  Greece,  who  were  all  philosophical  poets,  cloth- 
ing their  speculation  in  that  form  of  writing  which  had 
then  attained  perfection.  How  important  philosophy 
was  in  the  texture  of  Hellenic  culture  will  be  obvious  to 


Close  relation 
of  early  Greek 
poetry  and 
philosophy. 


io4 


A  Survey  of  Greek   Civilization. 


Philosophy  a 

spiritual  neces- 
sitj  t"  the 
Greeks. 


Physical 
speculations 
preceded  moral. 


Truths 
attained  by 
Ionic  philoso- 
phers. 


the  modern  reader  if  he  reflects  that  this  was  the  only 
avenue  open  to  the  Greeks  whereby  the  gross  and 
primitive  conceptions  of  their  popular  creeds  could  be 
purified  and  refined  into  a  reasonable  and  spiritual  faith. 
They  had  no  inspired  teacher  to  tell  them  of  a  revelation 
from  God,  they  had  no  sacred  book  dictated  by  the 
Spirit  of  God.  They  were  therefore  compelled  to  find 
their  way  into  moral  and  spiritual  truth  by  "the  light 
that  lighteth  every  man  that  cometh  into  the  world," 
examining  the  mythical  accounts  of  the  world's  origin 
by  their  reason,  examining  the  Homeric  accounts  of  the 
powers  that  rule  the  world  by  the  test  of  their  own 
moral  sense. 

It  is  not  a  little  remarkable  that  in  the  century  of 
which  we  are  speaking  mora/  speculations  had  not  yet 
commenced.  Socrates  had  not  yet  arisen  to  bring  down 
philosophy  from  the  skies  into  the  life  of  man.  The 
earliest  Ionic  philosophers  sought  to  discover  the  unity 
that  underlies  the  many  phenomena  of  nature,  the  com- 
mon substance  from  which  all  had  arisen,  the  universal 
laws  of  proportion  which  changed  Chaos  into  Cosmos — 
the  world  ' '  that  was  without  form  and  void  ' '  into  ' '  the 
heavens  that  declare  the  glory  of  God,  and  the  firma- 
ment that  showeth  his  handiwork."  And  as  they  all 
felt  that  the  universe  was  really  of  uniform  substance, 
though  appearing  in  myriad  variety,  so  they  soon 
reached  the  philosophic  truth  that  the  phenomenal  is  not 
the  real,  that  all  things  are  not  as  they  seem,  that  Being 
or  essence  is  distinct  from  its  qualities  ;  eternal  and 
immutable  as  opposed  to  the  fleeting  and  the  change- 
able. Nor  were  they  far  from  the  greater  discovery  that 
the  unseen  is  greater  than  the  visible,  that  a  secret 
Power  dominates  the  order  of  the  world,  if  not  that  this 
Power  is  the  real  world. 


First  Two  Centuries  of  Historical  Development.    1 05 

So  we  come  within  sight  of  that  pantheism  which  so 
constantly  recurs  in  all  Greek  philosophy,  and  which,  pa^lismand 
whatever  its  weakness,  is  surely  a  far  nobler  and  purer  polytheism, 
creed  than  the  vulgar  polytheism  preached  by  Homer 
and  Hesiod.  Both,  however,  coexisted  for  a  long 
while,  the  deeper  and  more  difficult  dogma  fascinating 
keen  minds  by  its  very  difficulty  and  obscurity,  the 
more  trivial  suiting  itself  in  many  respects  to  the  require- 
ments of  art  and  the  recreations  of  the  people.  The 
popular  creed,  in  spite  of  its  often  wicked  and  immoral 
gods,  was  a  happy  religion,  not  dealing  much  in  super- 
natural terrors,  but  identifying  feasts  and  their  pleasures 
with  the  worship  of  the  deities.      Our  religion  tends  so   „    . 

1    _  °  rhejoyousness 

strongly  to  dissociate  us  from  worldly  pleasures  that  we  °.f  Greek  re- 
have  some  difficulty  in  grasping  the  position  of  the 
Greeks,  even  the  serious  Greeks,  on  this  point.  When 
we  hear  that  exuberant  joy,  even  including  dissolute 
pleasures,  was  included  in  the  religious  celebrations  of 
these  people,  we  are  disposed  to  deny  to  them  all  proper 
sense  of  spiritual  things.  But  this  is  only  our  Semitic 
seriousness,  which  has  come  in  with  the  Jewish  teachers   Semitic 

J  seriousness 

of  the  Christian  religion.      We  admit  and  even  extol  the   of  religion 

0  of  to-day. 

joys  of  religion,  though  we  but  rarely  feel  them.  In  the 
infancy  of  European  civilization  it  was  far  different  ; 
the  joys  of  Greek  religion  were  many  and  intense,  its 
sadness  and  solemnity  were  long  kept  in  the  back- 
ground. 


CHAPTER  IV. 


Danger  to 
Greeks  from 
lack  of  concen- 
tration and 
naval  power. 


Greek  mercan- 
tile cities  at 
the  mi  • 
natives  of  the 
interior. 


THE     PASSAGE     FROM     SPORADIC     TO    SYSTEMATIC    CUL- 
TURE.      THE    GREAT    STRUGGLE     WITH    THE    EAST. 

The  philosophic  observer  who  examined  the  nature 
and  extent  of  the  civilization  which  we  have  sketched  so 
far,  in  the  middle  of  the  sixth  century,  might  have  noted 
the  following  peculiarities  and  consequent  dangers  in  its 
brilliant  life.  Its  expansiveness  was  wonderful.  During 
the  previous  one  hundred  and  fifty  years  it  had  thrown 
out  offshoots  westward  to  the  coasts  of  Italy  and  Sicily, 
even  to  Marseilles  and  the  now  Provencal  coast,  south- 
ward to  the  rich  upland  about  Cyrene  ;  eastward  both 
on  the  south  and  the  north  coasts  of  Asia  Minor  into  the 
recesses  of  the  Syrian  and  Pontic  seas,  northward 
through  the  Hellespont  to  the  Crimea.  But  the  whole 
of  this  vast  dissemination  was  no  empire  ;  for  it  pos- 
sessed no  combined  naval  power  ;  it  made  no  attempt  to 
conquer  the  adjoining  continents.  On  islands,  therefore, 
and  peninsulas  the  Greek  settlers  in  their  cities  were 
only  safe  until  a  naval  power  arose  which  could  com- 
mand the  sea  ;  on  coasts  the  Greeks  must  trust  to  con- 
ventions with  the  inland  nations,  or  the  strength  of  their 
fortifications,  to  defend  them  from  raid  or  conquest  by 
the  barbarians  of  the  interior. 

The  case  of  Byzantium  was  typical  of  the  whole 
question.  The  people  of  Megara  chose  the  matchless 
site  now  occupied  by  Constantinople,  from  which  they 
commanded  the  trade  of  the  Black  Sea,  as  well  as  that 
which  came  from  the  yEgean  ;  but  all  their  gifts,  their 

1 06 


Passage  from  Sporadic  to  Systematic  Culture.      107 

conventions,  their  arms,  were  unable  to  save  them  from 

the   constant   raids   of   their   Thracian    neighbors,    who   Precarious 

°  existence  of 

pounced  upon  their  crops,  levied  blackmail  upon  their  Byzantium, 
citizens,  and  so  impeded  their  peace  and  security  for 
centuries  that  it  was  not  till  a  continental  power  arose 
which  could  subdue  and  civilize  the  whole  population  of 
the  interior,  that  the  city  attained  the  importance  to 
which  it  was  entitled  from  its  wonderful  position. 
Polybius  explains  all  this  to  us  at  length  in  the  second 
century  before  Christ  ;  the  same  things  were  true  for 
centuries  before,  whenever  the  barbarians  combined 
under  a  capable  leader,  or  the  Greek  cities  were 
weakened  by  internal  discord.  The  wealth  of  maritime 
cities  which  have  a  great  carrying  trade  is  indeed 
sufficient  to  obtain  for  them  armies  of  mercenaries  ;  but 
it  is  a  matter  of  consistent  human  experience  that  forces 
of  natives,  it  may  be  pastoral  savages,  it  may  be  agricul- 
tural yeomen,  will  in  the  long  run  defeat  all  the  resources 
of  mercantile  cities.  The  fact  then  that  the  outlying 
Greeks  only  occupied  coasts,  and  did  not  attempt  any 
other  than  trade  relations  with  the  natives  of  foreign 
lands,  made  it  certain  that  they  would  fall  a  prey  to  the 
continental  powers  which  might  arise  in  these  lands. 

The  only  safety  against  such  a  result  would  have  lain   Confederation 
in  the  close  confederation  of  the  Hellenic  cities  and  an   prevented  by 

commercial 

honest  effort  to  help  each  member,  according  as  it  was  jealousies, 
subject  to  attack.  How  could  this  be  expected  from 
these  cities  founded  by  jealous  rivals,  each  profiting  at 
once  from  the  troubles  or  the  downfall  of  a  neighbor 
and  hating  its  prosperity?  It  was  much  more  likely 
that  Byzantium,  for  example,  would  connive  at,  or  even 
encourage  the  Asiatic  Thracians  attacking  Chalcedon 
over  against  them  on  the  Bosphorus,  than  send  that  city 
its  aid   when    hard  pressed  by  its  barbaric  neighbors. 


io8 


A  Survey  of  Greek   Civilization. 


Loss  of  Greek 
liberty  the  in- 
evitable result. 


The  case  of 

Sicily. 


Relation  of 

ities  of 
Asia  M  inoi  to 

eastern  ; 

and  civilization. 


Commercial  jealousies  always  show  the  mean  side  of 
human  nature,  and  jealousy,  generally  speaking,  was  an 
ingrained  vice  of  the  Greeks  from  the  earliest  to  the 
present  day. 

The  future  might  therefore  almost  have  been  foretold. 
As  the  land  was  widest  and  deepest  behind  the  eastern 
Greeks,  they  were  the  first  to  lose  their  liberties  ;  then 
came  the  turn  of  the  Italiot  cities,  crushed  by  the 
Lucanians  and  Samnites  of  the  Calabrian  Mountains,  and 
then  by  the  Romans.  Ultimately  came  the  turn  of 
Greece  itself.  After  it  had  been  shown  by  intestine 
wars  that  even  within  this  area  the  yeoman  was  superior 
to  the  sailor,  however  sustained  by  his  commercial 
resources,  the  whole  of  Greece  fell  under  the  first  great 
organization  of  the  northern  mainland,  when  Philip  II. 
of  Macedon  combined  the  infantry  of  his  mountaineers 
with  the  cavalry  of  Thessaly  to  subdue  the  coasts  and 
islands  and  small  territories  of  the  primary  Greek  cities. 

The  various  causes  that  accelerated  or  retarded  this 
consummation  are  generally  obvious  enough,  and  will 
appear  in  the  sequel.  The  most  favorable  area  for  such 
a  spreading  of  colonies  as  the  Greek  was  undoubtedly 
Sicily,  an  island  large  enough  to  hold  a  great  popula- 
tion, and  yet  not  too  vast  for  the  coast  cities  to 
dominate  it.  But  here  also  the  jealousies  between  the 
various  cities,  which  seldom  permitted  the  Greek  popu- 
lation to  put  forth  its  strength,  were  supported  by  the 
dangerous  interference  of  Carthage,  whose  consistent 
policy  it  was  to  prevent  any  united  power  in  the  island. 

We  now  revert  to  the  first  and  most  signal  case,  that 
of  the  Greek  cities  on  the  Asiatic  coast,  lying  upon  the 
borders  of  a  great  continent,  with  a  large  population 
open  to  their  trade,  but  also  the  seat  of  great  civilized 
powers,    at    first    too    far   away    east    to    cause   alarm, 


Passage  from  Sporadic  to  Systematic  Culture,     iog 

gradually  extending  their  sway  over  the  western  out- 
work of  Asia.  The  same  causes  which  made  these 
eastern  powers  a  danger  made  the  prosperity  of  the 
Asiatic  Greeks  ;  they  also  caused  the  coming  servitude 
to  be  more  tolerable,  and  not  utterly  destructive  of 
Greek  culture.  For  the  kingdoms  of  Mesopotamia  were 
from  a  very  early  age  highly  civilized  ;  their  require- 
ments were  therefore  many  ;  their  luxuries  varied  ;  the 
Lydians  and  the  Hittites  had  borrowed  from  them  their 
culture,  and  so  Miletus,  Ephesus,  Smyrna,  had  a  market 
vastly  wider  and  greater  than  those  of  any  other  Greeks. 
Hence  the  early  prominence  and  true  greatness  of  these 
settlements. 

Nor  was  it  the  policy  either  of  Lydians  or  Persians  to   Persian  domi. 
destroy  the  wealth  of  these  cities  ;  they  only  demanded   "f/j^"  Greek1' 
obedience   and    tribute  ;    yet    however    moderate    their  genius- 
demands,    the    loss    of   independence   and    of    political 
liberty  seems  to  have  marred  the  bloom  and  blighted 
the  growth  of  Greek  genius.      The  whole  greatness  of 
these  cities  is  before  the  Persian  domination  ;  they  then 
took  the  lead  of  Athens,   Thebes,   and  Sparta.      After 
that  time,  they  remained  indeed  populous,  at  times  very 
wealthy,  in  Roman  days  more  civilized  and  important 
than   most  cities   in   Hellas,  but  never  higher  than  the 
second  rank  in  the  estimation  of  men. 

A  political  difference  often  produces  social  and  intel- 

1         _  l  Modern  parallel 

lectual  differences  far  greater  than  one  could  expect,  of  Canada. 
Thus  the  continued  control  of  England  over  Canada, 
while  the  States  attained  their  complete  liberty  in  the 
War  of  Independence,  produced  such  a  stay  in  the 
energy  of  that  country  that  competent  observers  in 
former  years  have  noticed  along  the  immense  frontier 
the  most  striking  contrasts  :  to  the  south  activity,  busi- 
ness, development  ;  to  the  north  dulness,  inactivity,  list- 


I  IO 


A  Survey  of  Greek   Civilization. 


Influence  of 
the  East  oti 
Greek  art 
and  life. 


Superior 
refinement 
of  Lydian  and 
Persian 
grandees. 


lessness,  as  if  the  very  practice  of  political  liberties  had 
stimulated  the  population  on  the  one  side  to  industry 
and  enterprise,  while  a  very  moderate  and  humane  con- 
trol, but  from  a  distance  and  by  strangers,  had  taken 
the  heart  out  of  the  subjects  of  the  English  crown.* 

While,  however,  the  political  effects  on  the  cities 
of  Asia  Minor  were  such  that  they  never  regained  inde- 
pendence, but  only  exchanged  the  nominal  servitude  to 
the  Medes  or  the  Persians  for  a  far  more  real  slavery  to 
the  Athenian  or  to  the  Spartan  Empire,  it  had  not  been 
admitted  by  the  historians  that  other  effects  followed 
which  cannot  but  be  regarded  as  beneficial.  The  arts 
and  crafts  of  the  East,  in  precious  metals,  in  chain 
armor,  in  rich  carpets,  in  delicate  ware,  far  richer 
and  better  than  Greek  products,  exercised  a  powerful 
effect  upon  the  manufactures  of  the  Greeks.  The  style 
of  living  among  eastern  nobles  was  vastly  more  refined 
than  that  of  the  wealthiest  king  or  tyrant  in  Greece ; 
even  the  ancestral  dignity  and  loyalty  of  the  great 
Persian  nobles  were  something  different  from,  and 
superior  to,  the  somewhat  mercantile  refinement  of  the 
Greeks.  The  only  thorough  aristocrats  in  Greece,  the 
Spartans,  sustained  their  pride  by  rudeness  and  exclu- 
siveness,  whereas  the  Lydian  or  Persian  grandee  lived  in 
splendor,  with  a  great  retinue,  and  with  the  field  sports 
of  our  modern  gentleman.  The  elder  or  younger  Cyrus 
did  not  hunt  with  less  zeal  than  the  Spartan  youth, 
but  kept  in  their  preserves  far  nobler  and  more  danger- 
ous game. 

Thus  the  Greeks  were  brought  very  early  into  contact 
with  a  distinct  type  of  human  excellence  not  democratic, 
just  as  they  came  in   Polybius's  day  to  wonder  at  the 

*  I  need  hardly  say  that  this  remark  does  not  apply  to  the  present  Dominion 
of  Canada,  nor  in  any  case  to  the  province  of  (Quebec,  whose  backwardness, 
itent  enough,  is  due  t<>  totally  different  causes. 


Passage  from  Sporadic  to  Systematic  Culture.     1 1 1 

Roman  patrician,  who  was  a  great  gentleman,  also  of  a 
distinct  type.      So  clever  and  assimilating  a  people  could 
not  but  admire,   and    perhaps  envy,   this  splendid  life. 
Individuals  like  the  older  Miltiades  and  like  the  Athe- 
nian Iphicrates  *  were  able  to  attain  to  some  semblance 
of  it  by  connections  with  Thracian  chieftains  and  wealth 
derived  from   the   gold    mines    of   that   country.      But, 
generally   speaking,    the     "Great    King"    was   a    sort   Opportunity 
of   figure    of   gold,    living    in  a   glorious    residence,    of  tvheen^arsetrs  in 
which  the  occasional  mercenaries  who  reached  Babylon 
or   Ecbatana  brought   back  reports   that  sounded  like 
fairy  tales.       Hence  there  was  to  open  to  adventurous 
young  men   the  chance   of  service  in   the  far  East   or 
in  Egypt,  from  which  they  must  have  brought  back  con- 
siderable wealth.      Yet  we  never  in  this  early  time  hear 
of  mercenaries  as  a  class,  but  only  of  individuals,  nor  do 
we  know  of  any  important  accounts    which   they   pre- 
served of  their  adventures,  until  we  come  to  the  days  of 
Xenophon.     We  may  assume  that  the  great  satraps  and 
nobles   looked   with    contempt    upon    the    clever    self- 
seeking   adventurers   whom    they    employed,   whom    at 
times  they   enslaved,   and  again  at  whose  hands  they 
suffered  defeat.      But  no   contact  with  the  West  ever 
destroyed  their  high  qualities.      From  the  times  of  the 
Persian  wars,  when  Herodotus  describes  them  with  sym- 
pathy in   their  home  life  —  or  else   jumping  overboard   Highciviii- 
when  asked  by  their  king  to  lighten  his  ship  in  a  danger-   ernnob°ies.aS ' 
ous  storm  —  we  feel  ourselves  in  the  society  like  that  of 
the  old  French  noblesse ;  so  that  down   to   the  barons 
who    fought   against  Alexander  and  whose  splendor  in 
war  and  sport  may  be  seen  perpetuated  on   the  great 
sarcophagus  of  the  king  of  Sidon,  the  eastern  (Aryan) 

♦The  marriage  of  the  general   Iphicrates  to  a  Thracian  princess,  and  the 
luxury  of  the  feast,  was  the  subject  of  popular  comment  on  the  stage  at  Athens. 


A  Survey  of  Greek  Civilization. 


The  rise  of 
Sicily  through 
its  tvrants. 


Joint  suprem- 
acy of  Sparta 
aucl  Athens. 


nobles  were  not  barbarians  in  any  reasonable  sense,  but 
civilized  and  probably  cultivated  men. 

The  peoples  who  kept  pressing  on  the  great  Italiot 
cities  were  very  far  different  —  rude  Samnites  and  Lu- 
canians,  who,  like  the  Thracians,  thought  only  of  raids 
and  plunder.  The  Sikels  or  aborigines  of  Sicily  were 
not  numerous  or  powerful  enough  for  this  aggressive 
policy,  unless  backed  by  the  Carthaginians,  and  were 
kept  in  check,  and  even  greatly  civilized,  by  the  chain 
of  cities  reaching  round  their  coasts.  But  here  too  the 
jealous  isolation  of  Dorian  from  Ionian,  of  merchant  from 
merchant,  would  have  caused  the  ruin  of  these  cities 
in  detail  but  for  the  rise  of  the  great  tyrants,  of  whom 
Gelon  was  the  foremost,  who  consolidated  the  Greek 
power  in  capable  hands  and  fought  the  battle  of  Hel- 
lenedom  as  well  in  their  way  as  did  the  democracy  of 
Athens.  The  fame  of  Gelon  became  so  great  that  when 
appealed  to  by  Sparta  and  Athens  for  help  in  the  great 
Persian  wars,  he  offered  a  great  contribution  of  ships  and 
men,  provided  he  were  given  the  chief  command.  He 
claimed  therefore  the  primacy  in  Hellenedom.  But  the 
events  of  the  previous  hundred  years  had  determined 
that  the  center  of  gravity  in  this  brilliant  civilization  lay 
not  in  Sicily,  Italy,  or  Asia  Minor,  but,  in  spite  of  its 
comparative  poverty,  in  the  central  peninsula  of  the  race. 

For  here,  after  many  struggles,  in  war  and  in  politics, 
it  was  becoming  more  and  more  clear  that  in  Peloponne- 
sus Sparta  must  lead  ;  in  continental  Greece,  Athens. 
Sparta  had  had  long  struggles  with  her  neighbors  since 
she  had  attained  internal  peace  and  stability  from  the 
wisdom  of  Lycurgus.  First  came  the  great  wars  against 
Messene  and  Arcadia  —  the  latter  so  picturesquely 
.sketched  (in  his  first  book)  by  Herodotus,  the  former 
only  known  to  us  from  the  fragments  of  Tyrtavus  and 


Passage  from  Sporadic  to  Systematic  Culture.     1 1 3 

the  reports,  centuries  later,  drawn  from  the  literature  of 
the  restored  Messene.  Then  there  was  the  danger  from 
Pheidon  of  Argos  and  other  tyrants,  who  seem  to  have 
led  the  Achaean  or  Ionian  element  in  the  Peloponnesus 
against  their  Dorian  masters.* 

But  neither  at  Sicyon,  Corinth,  or  Argos  were  the  Spartan  supe. 
tyrants,  however  respectable  or  however  brilliant,  able  p'Soponnesus. 
to  make  any  large  combination  against  the  tough  valor 
and  consistent  policy  of  Sparta.  Had  she  been  disposed 
for  conquest,  she  could  probably  have  divided  the 
rest  of  Peloponnesus  as  she  had  done  Messene,  among 
Dorian  aristocrats.  But  her  policy  was  anything  but 
ambitious.  From  the  description  of  Xenophon  (  l '  De 
Republica  Lacedaemoniorum " ),  from  the  speeches  of 
Athenian  opponents  in  the  history  of  Thucydides,  and 
from  the  treatises  of  Plutarch,  are  derived  the  current 
views  of  Spartan  life,  which  we  should  never  have  in- 
ferred from  the  fragments  of  Alcman  or  of  Tyrtaeus,  the 
poets  who  flourished  and  sang  in  Sparta. 

It  may  have  been  not  only  the  laws  of  Lycurgus  Respect  of 
but  the  long  hardships  and  dangers  of  the  Messenian  sparun  type. 
wars  as  well  as  the  growth  in  power  of  the  ephors  and 
the  constant  fear  of  Helot  insurrections,  which  conspired 
to  form  that  peculiar  type  which  all  Greece  admired,  and 
could  not  rival  down  to  her  latest  days.  This  Greek  ad- 
miration was  expressed  not  only  in  countless  anecdotes 
and  passages  in  history,  but  in  the  theories  of  the  philos- 
ophers. There  was  hardly  one  of  them  who  framed  an 
ideal  polity  that  did  not  borrow  his  prime  ideas  of 
the  framework  of  such  a  society  from  that  of  Sparta. 
On  this  I  have  already  commented. 

*  This  is  the  theory  set  forth  with  much  great  ability  by  E.  Curtius  in  his 
"  Greek  History."  But  whether  the  Achaean  population  was  in  league  with 
the  tyrants  because  it  was  Achaean,  or  because  it  was  oppressed  by  the  Dorian 
aristocracies,  is  not  clear. 


"4 


A  Survey  of  Greek   Civilization. 


Spartan  mili- 
tary discipline 
superior  to 
their  strategy. 


Sparta,  though 
without  an  im- 
perial policy, 
is  a  match  for 
Athens. 


But  however  admirable  the  silence  and  modesty  of  the 
youth,  the  terse  and  pithy  utterance  of  age,  the  simple 
dress  and  habits,  the  absence  of  money  and  trade,  may 
have  been  within  Spartan  society,  this  education  unfitted 
the  citizens  for  an  imperial  policy,  and  generally  failed 
to  keep  its  hold  on  those  who  came  within  the  reach  of 
luxuries  abroad.  The  Spartans  were  the  first  to  discover 
and  insist  upon  drill  and  discipline  as  the  necessary 
means  of  securing  their  military  superiority.  But  to 
this  development  of  tactics  they  never  added  good 
strategy.  They  did  not  pursue  vigorously  after  a  battle  ; 
they  had  no  notion  of  planning  a  campaign.  Neverthe- 
less they  attained  to  such  prestige  as  a  disciplined 
infantry  that  no  Greeks  ever  withstood  them  in  fair 
fight  on  the  open  field,  till  the  Thebans  at  Coronea  and 
afterward  most  signally  at  Leuctra  showed  that  they  had 
solved  the  problem  of  defeating  them.  The  Spartan 
was  not  without  vanity  ;  the  youth  showed  it  in  their 
military  dress  and  the  polishing  of  their  arms  ;  the 
elders  in  the  polishing  of  their  epigrams  ;  for  the  pointed 
retorts  wherewith  they  answered  flowery  eloquence  were 
cited  and  were  collected  throughout  Greece. 

To  sum  up  then,  the  Spartans  though  not  an  advanc- 
ing or  conquering  power,  aiming  at  the  subjection  of 
Greece,  were  still  the  great  resisting  power,  which  any 
assailant  would  find  most  formidable.  They  were  in  this 
sense  the  backbone  of  Hellas  ;  and,  as  a  matter  of  fact, 
in  spite  of  successful  invasions  and  great  reverses  in  sub- 
sequent centuries,  Sparta  was  not  subdued  till  the  very 
end  of  Greek  history. 

But  when  we  speak  of  the  backbone  of  Greece,  we 
must  not  forget  that  there  were  also  some  large  reserve 
forces  of  primitive  folk,  which  had  not  yet  entered  upon 
the  path  of  civilization,  and  were  hidden  in  their  moun- 


Passage  from  Sporadic  to  Systematic  Culture.     1 15 


tains  till  the  day  came  when  the  Greater  States  became 
weary  and  exhausted,  and  these  others  in  their  turn  took  ^G^t/'inTts 
up  the  torch — such  were  the  inhabitants  of  Arcadia,  and  [ribe"vlhzed 
of  the  inland  Achaea,  which,  after  the  old  coast  cities  had 
sent  out  colonists  to  Ionia  (in  semi-mythical  times),  fall 
into  obscurity  till  the  days  of  the  Achaean  and  the 
Arcadian  Leagues,  three  hundred  years  later.  Such  too 
in  central  Greece  were  all  the  mountaineers  dwelling 
north  and  west  of  Delphi — ^tolians  and  Acarnanians, 
who  spoke  indeed  Greek,  and  who  had  Greek  blood  in 
their  veins,  but  whose  dialect  and  manners  were  rude 
and  barbarous  to  their  more  brilliant  neighbors.  Never- 
theless these  were,  as  I  have  said,  a  large  reserve  force 
of  purity  and  vigor,  which  was  ever  imperceptibly  sus- 
taining its  more  advanced  neighbors  with  its  labor  and 
its  blood,  and  maintaining  that  variety  which  is  so 
essential  a  feature  in  Greek  civilization. 

From  these  latter  the  Boeotians  and  Athenians  were  Importance 
long  since  differentiated  by  greater  wealth  and  better  ofBceotia- 
organization.  Orchomenus  and  Thebes  were  famous 
old  Greek  cities  of  the  highest  type.  The  Minyae,  or 
old  nobility  of  Orchomenus,  had  long  since  shown  by 
their  palaces,  and  still  more  by  those  tunnels  wherewith 
they  drained  Lake  Copais  through  the  northern  hills, 
into  the  Euripus,  that  they  had  profited  like  Mycenae 
and  Tiryns  by  the  culture  of  earlier  races.  But  of  early 
historical  Bceotia  we  know  curiously  little.  From 
Hesiod  we  have  a  vivid  picture  of  the  hard  life  of  the 
poorer  people  and  their  oppression  by  the  rich,  say 
about  700  B.  C.  From  Pindar  we  have  no  definite 
account  of  his  native  country  ;  but  we  can  infer  with 
certainty  that  the  city  which  held  such  a  poet  by  no 
means  deserved  the  Attic  jibes,  nor  was  the  school  that 
formed  about  Pindar — every  early  Greek  poet  was  the 


i  [6 


A  Survey  of  Greek   Civilization. 


Agricultural 
disadvantages 
of  Attica  stim- 
ulate a  hardv 


Trade  subordi- 
nated by  Pisis- 
tratids  to 

public  works. 


center  of  some  such  school — composed  of  men  that 
deserved  to  be  called  "  Boeotian  swine."  Details,  how- 
ever, we  have  almost  none.  Hesiod  spoke  of  his  dis- 
trict as  one  of  poor  soil  and  bad  climate,  in  comparison 
with  his  father's  Asiatic  home.  But  in  historical  days, 
Bceotia  is  known  indeed  for  a  foggy  and  comparatively 
damp  climate,  caused  by  the  plentiful  watering  of  the 
country,  but  this  also  secured  the  fertility  of  the  alluvial 
soil,  carried  down  by  many  rivers  from  the  surrounding 
mountains. 

It  is  in  contrast  to  these  rich  lowlands  that  Thucydi- 
des  speaks  of  the  light  soil  of  Attica,  and  says  that  in 
early  days  it  was  little  subject  to  invasions,  to  which  its 
natural  features  afforded  but  little  inducement.  A 
struggle  with  the  soil  has  often  been  the  education  for 
future  greatness.  Human  beings  who  find  everything 
ready  to  their  hand  seldom  rise  above  their  material 
comforts.  Those  that  are  born  to  hard  labor  acquire 
the  qualities  that  make  them  first  masters  of  their 
circumstances,  then  of  other  men.  Thus  if  all  Greece, 
as  compared  with  neighboring  lands,  was  a  rugged 
mother  training  up  a  vigorous  offspring,  so  within 
Greece  itself  it  was  not  the  rich  Thessaly,  Bceotia,  or 
Messene  that  brought  up  the  finest  population.  Attica, 
however,  had  another  signal  advantage  over  Bceotia. 
The  latter  is  circled  by  mountains  which  forbid  easy 
access  of  commerce  to  the  sea,  and  which  afford  no 
harbors  ;  whereas  Attica,  a  long  peninsula,  afforded  on 
either  side  a  coast  for  ships  and  other  inducements  for 
commerce. 

It  is  somewhat  surprising  that  though  Solon  showed  a 
distinct  sympathy  for  this  adventurous  life,  though  trad- 
ing was  in  no  respect  derogatory  to  the  Ionian  or  Attic 
grandee,  though  it  should  have  been  the  policy  of  Pisis- 


Passage  from  Sporadic  to  Systematic  Culture.     117 

tratus  and  his  family  to  encourage  this  spirit,  and  the 
gaining  of  material  wealth,  as  an  outlet  for  the  energy 
which  was  dangerous  when  turned  to  politics,  yet  we  do 
not  hear  of  the  trade  or  shipping  of  Athens  during 
this  period.  Great  works  were  carried  out  by  the 
tyrants.  They  commenced  the  Olympieion,  of  which  ™empieion 
the  remains,  as  rebuilt  by  Antiochus  Epiphanes  and 
by  Hadrian,  are  still  one  of  the  most  wonderful  monu- 
ments of  Athens.  They  took  water  from  the  stream 
Ilissus,  some  miles  above  Athens,  and  led  it  under- 
ground to  where  we  have  now  learned  to  place  the  stately 
fountain  called  the  "  Nine  Wells,"  of  which  the  water 
was  used  for  sacred  purposes  by  the  Attic  maidens.* 
This  great  work  of  usefulness  and  beauty — dor  we  can 
infer  that  there  was  often  a  scarcity  of  water  at  the  spot 
sacred  to  the  god  Dionysus  in  Limnar\ — shows  that  the 
tyrants  labored  to  show  their  care  and  interest  in  the  citi- 
zen's comfort.  We  are  also  led  to  infer  from  stray  hints 
that  they  not  only  authorized  and  regulated  the  recita- 
tion of  the  old  epic  poetry,  but  encouraged  the  village 
and  vintage  feasts  of  the  god  Dionysus,  which  soon 
developed   into  the   magnificent   Attic  tragedy.      These   Encouragement 

.  ^  t->-    •  of  poets  and 

literary  tastes  are  not  perhaps  so  much  those  01  risistra-  artists, 
tus,  a  plain  man  of  action,  who  had  lived  a  checkered 
life  of  adventure,  but  of  his  second  son,  Hipparchus, 
who  gathered  about  him  poets  and  artists,  and  whose 
vices,  to  which  most  historians  popularly  ascribed  the 
fall  of  the  dynasty,  were  mere  false  imputations,  trans- 

*  I  have  already  mentioned  (page  86)  this  novelty,  but  desire  to  insist  upon  it 
more  fully.  Dr.  Dorpfeld,  the  distinguished  head  of  the  German  school  at 
Athens,  showed  me  in  person  the  results  of  his  research,  and  explained  to  me 
his  conclusions.  Though  I  see  that  the  English  scholars  are,  as  usual,  skepti- 
cal of  such  a  novelty,  and  anxious  to  hold  to  the  old  theory  which  places  the 
fountain  at  the  Ilissus,  nearly  a  mile  away  from  the  city,  I  presume  that  they 
will  in  course  of  time  adopt  what  the  evidence  demands,  and  what  most  Ger- 
man philologists,  who  have  seen  the  sites,  are  ready  to  admit. 

t  Viz.,  the  marsh,  or  perhaps  the  washing  pits  in  which  Greek  women  now, 
as  then,  do  the  washing  for  their  households. 


1 1 8  A  Survey  of  Greek   Civilization. 


ferred  to  him  from  his  younger  and  dissolute  brother, 
Thessalus.* 

The  actual  expulsion  of  the  remaining  tyrant  Hippias 
Expulsion  of       js  ascribed    by  Herodotus  to   the    machinations  of   the 

Hippias.  J  110 

exiled  Alcma^onidse,  who  brought  round  the  Spartans  to 
interfere.  It  is  undesirable  that  in  this  book  I  should 
rehearse  again  the  facts,  which  are  found  in  every  history 
of  Greece.  The  remarkable  point  is  that  prominently 
brought  out  by  Herodotus  (V.  58).  "It  is  manifest 
that  not  in  one  but  in  every  respect  the  right  of  free 
speech  is  a  good  thing,  if  indeed  the  Athenians  so  long 
as  they  were  under  tyrants  were  no  better  in  war  than 
any  of  their  neighbors,  whereas  as  soon  as  they  had 
got  rid  of  the  tyrants  they  became  a  long  way  the  best. 
This  makes  it  plain  that  when  subjects  they  were  slack 
Athenian  de-       because  they  were  only  working  for  a  master,  but  when 

velopment  ..,  ,  ,     ,  .  .  r        i  • 

under  rule  of  liberated  each  became  eager  to  achieve  success  tor  him- 
self." The  historian  forgets  or  ignores  what  I  have 
already  set  down  as  an  important  cause  of  this  change  : 
the  unification  of  classes  and  interests  in  opposition  to 
the  tyrants,  growing  with  the  increased  intelligence  of 
the  people,  owing  to  their  education  by  these  very 
tyrants.  It  is  the  mild  and  concessive  absolute  ruler 
who  generally  feeds  up  the  opposition  which  his  more 
ruthless  predecessors  had  crushed  with  a  violent  hand. 
It  is  quite  certain  that  the  Athenians  of  510  B.  C.  were 
far  more  fit  for  liberty  than  those  of  590.  Solon  was 
probably  a  far  greater  man  than  Clisthenes,  yet  Solon's 
constitution  was  almost  abortive,  whereas  Clisthenes  was 
the  real  father  of  the  Athenian  democracy. 

Hut  though  Athens,  Sparta,  and  Syracuse  had  got  so 
far   that    they   asserted,    and    maintained    by    arms,    a 

*  This  is  what  the  newly  discovered  "  Constitution  of  Athens  "  has  to  say  on 
the  subject.  The  author,  be  he  Aristotle  or  not,  seems  desirous  to  correct 
Thutvdides. 


Pisistratids. 


Passage  from  Sporadic  to  Systematic  Culture.     1 19 


superiority  over  their  neighbors  about  the  year  500  B. 
C. ,  this  superiority  was  but  new  at  Athens  ;  new  and 
doubtful,  and  depending  upon  a  clever  despot,  at  Syra- 
cuse ;  the  only  traditional  and  stable  primacy,  the 
Spartan,  was  not  suitable  for  an  active  or  improving 
policy.  In  other  words,  the  love  of  independence  in 
each  organized  city,  the  jealousy  of  its  neighbors'  inter- 
ference, nay  even  of  their  success,  kept  Greece  from 
coalescing,  and  so  from  subduing  the  peoples  of  the 
Levant  by  her  arms  and  her  arts.  On  the  other  hand, 
we  must  not  forget  that  this  political  individualism  which 
left  her  a  prey  to  a  strong  invader  had  its  compensating 
features.  The  brilliancy  of  Greek  civilization  is  to  a 
great  extent  the  consequence  of  its  variety,  as  that  of  a 
diamond  is  of  its  many  facets,  and  we  may  be  sure  that 
neither  literature  nor  art  would  have  reached  its  match- 
less height  had  it  not  been  for  the  competition  of  many 
centers  and  schools.  The  same  thing  may  be  said  (in  a 
far  less  degree)  of  the  Germany  which  I  remember, 
ruled  by  sixty-six  independent  dukelets  and  princelets, 
all  with  the  courts,  embassies,  coinage,  customs,  of 
separate  kingdoms.  Politically  they  were  impotent  ;  in 
art  and  literature,  in  science  and  philosophy,  these  many 
courts,  these  many  universities,  have  done  an  inestimable 
work  for  mankind.  The  Greek  world  up  to  the  year 
500  B.  C.  only  showed  its  so-called  unity  by  a  com- 
munity of  language,  one  general  complexion  in  its  many 
creeds,  and  the  festivals  or  games  to  which  only  mem- 
bers of  the  race  were  admitted.  So  long  as  no  conquer- 
ing race  occupied  the  neighboring  lands  this  state  of 
things  might  last  ;  but  when  that  contemporary  arose, 
Greece  must  either  go  to  pieces  and  fall  piecemeal  into 
the  enemy's  power,  or  she  must  consolidate  herself  and 
offer  a  national  resistance  to  the  invader.      The  former 


Reasons  for 
instability  of 
newly  acquired 
power  of 
Athens,  Sparta, 
and  Syracuse. 


Modern  par- 
allel of  Ger- 


Political  dan- 
gers to  Greece 
from  lack  of 
unity. 


I  20 


A  Survey  of  Greek  Civilization. 


Struggle  be- 
tween Greece 
and  Persia. 


Delphic  oracle 
advises  sub- 
mission  to  the 
Persians. 


catastrophe  happened  in  Ionia,  on  the  coast  of  Asia 
Minor,  where  the  many  Greek  cities  would  not  loyally 
combine  ;  the  latter  in  Greece  proper,  where  the  great 
struggle  commenced  under  the  presidency  of  Sparta, 
but  passed,  for  want  of  enterprise,  out  of  their  hands 
into  those  of  the  Athenians.  There  is  no  struggle  in  all 
history  more  famous,  or  more  picturesquely  told,  than 
the  conflict  which  lasted  from  the  Ionian  revolt  to  the 
battle  of  Plataea. 

But  the  last  twelve  years  (491-79  B.  C. )  are  especially 
and  permanently  interesting.  How  much  they  owe  to 
the  genius  of  the  historian  Herodotus  it  is  hard  to  over- 
estimate. With  the  fairness  of  real  genius  he  has  given 
the  Persians  credit  for  their  good  points,  for  the  valor  of 
their  aristocracy,  for  that  self-sacrificing  loyalty  to  their 
sovereign  which  was  impossible  to  a  Greek.  So  also  he 
has  not  failed  to  chronicle  the  shortcomings  and  mean- 
nesses of  the  Greeks,  their  squabbles  and  jealousies, 
their  frequent  disloyalty  to  the  great  national  cause.  It 
seemed  indeed  that  this  cause  was  hopeless.  The 
priests  of  the  Delphic  oracle,  who  based  their  responses 
on  the  best  and  widest  information  received  from  all 
parts  of  the  Hellenic  world,  made  up  their  minds  that 
resistance  was  vain.  They  prophesied  ruin,  and  advised 
submission.  Nor  can  we  say  that  their  forecast  was 
unreasonable.  They  were  bound  to  maintain  their 
reputation  for  infallibility,  so  that  in  doubtful  cases  they 
fell  back  on  studied  ambiguity.  But  now  their  decision 
was  quite  clear,  and  by  it  they  must  have  lost  much  of 
their  reputation  and  influence.  Herodotus  leads  us 
indeed  to  believe  that  with  the  least  more  diplomacy  or 
obstinacy  or  delay,  the  Persians  must  have  succeeded. 
Their  opponents  were  always  on  the  point  of  making 
terms    separately   and    dispersing.      But    the    hand    of 


Passage  from  Sporadic  to  Systematic  Culture.     1 2 1 

providence,  as  he  declares  with  strong  faith,  had  decreed 
it  otherwise.  ' '  The  horse  is  prepared  for  the  day  of 
battle,  but  victory  is  of  the  Lord. 

Putting  aside  the  battle  of  Marathon,  which  was  only  Causes  of 
a  very  unimportant  skirmish,*  wherein  Miltiades  first  ^Marathon? 
showed  the  superiority  of  Greek  to  oriental  armor,  we 
may  enumerate  the  natural  causes  employed  by  that 
providence  whom  Herodotus  regards  as  "putting  down 
the  mighty  from  their  seat,  and  exalting  the  humble  and 
meek"  as  follows:  first,  the  superior  armor  just  men- 
tioned, which  made  the  hoplite,  as  we  comically  call  the 
heavy-armed  soldier,  far  more  than  a  match  of  a  Persian 
or  Sakan  at  close  quarters  ;  secondly,  the  great  activity 
and  patriotism  of  the  Athenians,  whose  city  was  in 
ashes,  whose  all  was  at  stake,  yet  who  fought  without 
losing  their  heads  or  giving  way  to  despair  ;  thirdly,  the 
sturdy  valor  and  honesty  of  the  Spartans,  who  though 
stupid  and  without  any  intelligent  policy,  yet  when  once 
persuaded  stood  like  men  and  behaved  like  gentlemen. 

To  these  larger  causes  were  added  two  personal  ones  Genius  of 
of  no  little  weight  —  the  genius  and  resource  of  the  and"ncompeS- 
Athenian  Themistocles,  and  the  folly  and  incompetence 
of  the  Persian  king  Xerxes.  Had  Cyrus  or  Darius, 
or  even  Ochus,  the  contemporary  of  Demosthenes,  been 
on  the  throne,  the  result  could  hardly  have  been  doubt- 
ful. But  Xerxes,  that  flogged  the  Hellespont,  that 
gathered  an  army  so  unwieldy  as  to  threaten  its  own 
destruction  every  week  from  famine,  that  took  no 
precautions,  that  made  no  trial  of  his  gold,  which  had 
been  far  more  effectual  than  his  sword,  was  the  very 
man  to  wreck  his  expedition.      We  know  what  his  home 

*  There  is  a  whole  literature  on  this  battle,  the  most  recent  in  English  being 
Mr.  Reginald  Macan's  careful  commentary  on  the  central  three  books  of 
Herodotus.  The  vaunting  exaggeration  of  the  Athenians  has  obscured  the 
real  facts  so  much  that  the  truth  is  hardly  now  to  be  attained. 


tence  of  Xerxes. 


122 


A  Survey  of  Greek   Civilization. 


Themistocles  a 
typical  Greek. 


Main  result  or" 
struggle  with 
Persia  was 
Hellenic  unity. 


life  was  from  the  book  of  Esther,  of  which  he  is  the 
Ahasuerus.  We  have,  besides  the  history  of  Herodo- 
tus, an  inestimable  relic  of  the  time  in  the  "  Persae  "  of 
^schylus.  For  that  poet  was  a  partaker  in  the  war, 
and  fought  at  Marathon  and  at  Salamis.  In  his  poetical 
version  of  the  events,  which  dwells  rather  upon  the 
tragic  results  at  the  Persian  court  than  the  Greek 
exultation,  the  ghost  of  Darius  rises,  a  noble  and  calm 
figure — to  emphasize  the  wretched  weakness,  and  re- 
buke the  weak  lamentations,  of  his  degenerate  son. 

On  the  other  side  we  have  that  extraordinary  and 
typical  figure  of  a  Greek,  Themistocles  ;  a  man  of  ready 
wit,  of  endless  resource,  not  hampered  by  moral  scruples, 
in  some  respects  a  scoundrel,  in  many  more  a  patriot,  a 
diplomatist  rather  than  a  tactician,  a  debater  rather  than 
a  warrior.  Such  were  in  our  own  century  the  Greek 
patriot-bandits  that  freed  their  country,  Odysseus,  Kolo- 
kotronis,  and  others,  combining  dishonesty,  greed,  and 
cruelty  with  a  keen  love  of  liberty  and  a  high  resolve  to 
risk  their  lives  for  their  country's  emancipation.  So  the 
Spartan  infantry  and  the  Athenian  fleet  were  held  to- 
gether by  argument,  by  fraud,  by  threats,  till  Greece 
was  saved.  The  defeat  was  probably  not  so  crushing  to 
the  Persians  as  the  Greeks  pretended.  Artabazus,  the 
king's  uncle,  carried  his  forty  thousand  men  home  after 
Platsea,  just  as  Grouchy  carried  his  division  to  Paris 
after  Waterloo.  But  there  was  no  pursuit  of  Artabazus. 
Persian  gold  was  still  able  to  buy  dissensions  and  obtain 
treachery  among  the  Greeks. 

But  the  great  struggle  had  one  indelible  effect.  It 
made  the  Greeks  for  the  first  time  feel  themselves  one 
nation  as  opposed  to  the  Persian  Empire.  The  dedica- 
tions and  votive  offerings  commemorated  Mycenaean  and 
Tirynthian  exiles  from    long-destroyed  cities  as   it  did 


Passage  from  Sporadic  to  Systematic  Culture.     123 


Spartans  and  Athenians  —  all  members  of  the  great  Hel- 
lenic unity,  now  asserting  itself  against  the  world  of  bar- 
barians. The  bronze  pedestal  of  the  tripod  offered  by 
the  king  of  Sparta  at  Delphi,  to  the  dumbfounded 
oracle,  still  stands  in  the  Hippodrome  of  Constantinople, 
and  upon  it  when  first  it  was  excavated  the  names  of  the 
tribes  were  verified.* 

Would  that  we  had  more  material  relics  of  this  glori- 
ous time  !  We  can  hardly  venture  to  draw  a  picture  of 
the  life  of  the  men  that  saved  Greece.  ^Eschylus  we  Athenian 
know,  but  he  is  so  engrossed  with  the  ideal  in  his  august  f^ldTin 
tragedies  that  the  mere  human  Athenian  is  lost  in 
the  world-poet.  Yet  merely  to  have  understood  his 
thoughts  shows  what  was  to  be  expected  from  his  Athe- 
nian audience.  He  shows  to  us  the  great  strides  with 
which  Athenian  culture  was  progressing,  and  that  it  was 
progressing  in  depth  as  well  as  breadth.  Nothing 
will  better  illustrate  this  than  to  compare  him  with 
his  elder  contemporary,  Pindar,  a  lyric  poet  of  the 
first  order,  well  versed  in  all  the  richness  and  the  splen- 
dor of  lyrical  diction  and  of  stately  performance,  f  Yet 
if  we  put  the  lyrical  portions  of  ^schylus  into  compari- 
son with  Pindar,  we  seem  to  be  contemplating  not 
contemporaries  but  men  a  century  apart.  It  is  as  great 
as  the  contrast  between  the  old-fashioned,  simple,  be- 
lieving Herodotus  and  the  advanced,  crabbed,  skeptical 
Thucydides.  In  Pindar  the  richness  of  the  words,  the 
elaborateness  of  the  meters,  seem  a  vehicle  far  too  great  Contrast  be_ 
for  his  ideas.  In  iEschylus  the  huge  conceptions,  the  }*e|£d^j£ 
deep  speculations,    seem   far  too   great   for  the  words. 

*  This  was  in  1851 ;  now,  though  the  monument  is  surrounded  by  a  railing  and 
saved  from  harm,  the  names  which  are  on  the  lower  portion,  which  stands  in  a 
deep  inclosed  pit,  are  no  longer  to  be  deciphered,  till  the  surface  is  again 
cleared.  This  observation  I  made  after  a  personal  examination  of  the  monu- 
ment in  1893. 

t  Cf.  page  96,  where  I  have  compared  this  poet  with  his  older  eontempo- 


124  -"4  Survey  of  Greek  Civilization. 

And  yet  the  words  are  mighty  words  —  "  /Eschylus' 
bronze-throat  eagle-bark  for  blood,"  as  Browning  has 
described  them,  borrowing  his  metaphors  from  yEschy- 
lus  himself. 

It  were  exceedingly  instructive  to  demonstrate  this 
contrast  by  printing  passages  in  parallel  columns  to  illus- 
trate my  assertion.  But  how  can  this  be  done  without 
printing  them  in  the  original  ?  and  this  book  is  intended 
for  readers  who  would  not  understand  it.  It  is  hard 
enough  to  translate  any  real  stylist,  in  prose  or  poetry, 
from  his  own  into  any  other  tongue.  With  a  poet  like 
impossibility  of    Pindar  it  is  perfectly  impossible,   for  the  music  of  the 

translating  .    .  .  .  .....  .  , 

^schyius.  original  is  most    of    its    merit,    and    his    ideas    without 

this  music  are  but  second-rate  literature.  It  is  not  quite 
impossible  with  yEschylus,  for  even  in  bald  prose 
his  ideas  cannot  lose  their  splendor.     But  how  difficult 

The  "Agamem-  it  is  may  be  seen  from  the  translation  of  the  "  Agamem- 
non "  by  the  most  learned  of  the  great  English  poets  of 
this  century,  Robert  Browning,  who  knew  the  Greek 
poets,  as  I  can  testify  from  many  discussions  with  him, 
with  an  accuracy  hardly  equalled  by  any  professor  of 
Greek  in  England.  His  versions  from  Euripides,  his 
studies  on  Aristophanes,  show  this  erudition  very  plainly. 
But  his  "  Agamemnon  "  is  only  intelligible  to  those  who 
know  the  original  ;  to  the  rest  of  the  world  it  is  well- 
nigh  a  sealed  book. 

Yet  what  can  better  prove  the  greatness  of  the  "Aga- 

iiii'itv'a"i'r'"o'"  memnon  "  of  rEschylus  than  the  fact  that  it  is  one  of  the 
three  or  four  books  which  scholars  and  poets  are  always 
endeavoring  to  translate,  and  yet  no  version,  however 
well  received,  is  final.  The  "Iliad"  of  Homer,  the 
"Inferno"  of  Dante,  the  "Faust"  of  Goethe,  share 
with  the  "Agamemnon"  of  /Eschylus  this  eternal 
tribute  to  their  excellence,  and  of  these  five  there  can  be 


noil 


This  impossi- 


Passage  from  Sporadic  to  Systematic  Culture.     1 25 

little  doubt   that  it  offers  far  the  hardest    problems  to 
the  English  translator. 

Can  there  be  any  more  cogent  proof  that  the  Atheni- 
ans who  produced  and  who  appreciated  such  a  poet 
were  indeed  far  advanced  in  the  path  of  culture  ? 

Nor  is  this  play  the  only  proof  of  his  excellence.  The  splendid 
Each  of  the  seven  left  us  by  the  jealous  hand  of  time  'JEtc^us!" 
has  its  splendor,  none  perhaps  more  than  the  "  Prome- 
theus," where  the  structure  is  simple  and  the  difficul- 
ties of  the  text  not  considerable.  The  very  extrava- 
gances of  the  commentators  prove  the  extraordinary 
suggestiveness  of  this  early  foreshadowing  in  the  pro- 
phetic visions  of  the  poet,  of  a  Messiah  suffering  for  his 
compassion,  and  enduring  crucifixion  for  his  redemption 
of  men  from  misery. 

The  question  of  the  poet's  intention  is  far  more  difficult,  and    geven  interpre 
will  probably  never  be  satisfactorily  answered.    The  number  of  tations  of  the 
interpretations  put  upon  the  myth  by  commentators  is  astonish-        rome 
ing,  and   yet  it  is  possible  that  the  poet  had  none  of  them 
consciously  before  his  mind's  eye.      They  have    been   well 
summed  up  by  Patin*  under  six  heads.     They  are  first  the 
historical  theories,  such  as  that  of  Diodorus  Siculus,  a  scholiast    Historical, 
of  Apollonius   Rhodius,   and  others,   that  make   Prometheus 
a  ruler  of  Egypt  or  of  Scythia,  who  suffered  in  his  struggles  to 
reclaim  his  country  and  its  people.    Secondly,  the  philosophical,    philosophical, 
which  hold  it  to  be  the  image  of  the  struggles  and  trials  of  hu- 
manity against  natural  obstacles.      This  seems  the  view  of 
Welcker,  and  is  certainly  that  of  M.  Guignaut.     Thirdly,  the 
moral,  which  place  the  struggle  within  the  breast  of  the  in-    Moral, 
dividual,  and  against  his  passions,  as   was  done  by   Bacon, 
by  Calderon,  and  also  by  Schlegel,  as  well  as  by  several  older 
French   critics.      Fourthly,    the    Christian,   much  favored  by    Christian. 
Catholic  divines  in  France,  supported  by  Jos.  de  Maistre,  Edgar 
Quinet,  Ch.  Maquin,  and  others,  who  see  in  the  story  either  the 
redemption  of  man,  the  fall  of  Satan,  or  the  fall  of  man,  dimly 
echoed  by  some  tradition   from  the  sacred  Scriptures.    Gar- 
*  "Etudes,"  I.,  page  254.  I  have  added  Mr.  Lloyd's,  from  his  "Age  of  Pericles." 


126 


A  Survey  of  Greek   Civilization. 


Scientific. 


Political. 


Moral  problem 
nf  tin-  "Aga- 
memnon." 


bitius,  a  Basle  editor  of  the  "Prometheus"  in  1559,  seems 
to  have  led  the  way  in  this  direction.  But  as  Lord  Lytton 
justly  observes,  "  whatever  theological  system  it  shadows  forth 
was  rather  the  gigantic  conception  of  the  poet  himself  than  the 
imperfect  revival  of  any  forgotten  creed,  or  the  poetical  dis- 
guise of  any  existing  philosophy."  Yet  there  is  certainly  some- 
thing of  disbelief  or  defiance  of  the  creed  of  the  populace. 
Fifthly,  the  scientific,  which  regard  it  as  a  mere  personification 
of  astronomical  facts,  as  is  the  fashion  with  comparative  my- 
thologies. Similar  attempts  seem  to  have  been  made  of  old  by 
the  alchemists.  Sixthly,  there  is  the  political  interpretation  of 
Mr.  Watkiss  Lloyd,  who  thinks  the  genius  of  Themistocles  and 
the  ingratitude  of  Athens  were  the  real  object  of  the  poet's 
teaching,  though  disguised  in  a  myth.  There  is  lastly  to 
be  noticed  a  unique  theory,  which  may  be  called  the  romantic, 
propounded  by  Desmaretz  in  1648,  when  he  published  a  ration- 
alistic imitation  of  Euemerus,  entitled  La  verite  des  fables  on 
l' histoire  des  dieux  de  V 'antiquite.  He  explains  how  Prome- 
theus betrays  his  sovereign,  Jupiter,  for  the  love  of  his  mistress 
Pandora,  a  lady  as  exacting  as  any  princess  of  chivalry.  He 
retires  in  despair  to  the  wastes  of  the  Caucasus,  where  remorse 
daily  gnaws  his  heart,  and  he  suffers  agonies  more  dreadful 
than  if  an  eagle  were  continually  devouring  his  entrails. 
Prometheus  at  the  French  court  of  the  seventeenth  century 
was  sure  to  cut  a  strange  figure.* 

But  I  return  from  this  superhuman,  supernatural  crea- 
tion, the  scene  of  which  is  laid  in  the  grim  mountains  of 
the  Caucasus,  to  consider  the  problem  treated  in  the 
"Agamemnon"  and  its  connected  plays.  It  is  the 
problem  of  the  duty  imposed  upon  the  son  of  an  adulter- 
ous mother,  who  has  slain  his  father,  and  lives  in  the 
palace  and  upon  the  throne  of  her  murdered  husband  in 
company  with  her  paramour.  Both  deserve  death  at 
the  hands  of  the  natural  avenger  of  blood,  but  one 
is  bound  to  him  by  the  holiest  ties  of  affection  ;  she 
is  his  mother.  What  then  is  the  path  of  duty  before 
him  ?    And,  what  to  /Eschylus  is  vastly  more  important, 

I  .reck  Literature,"  MahatTy,  Vol.  II.,  pages  261-2. 


Passage  from  Sporadic  to  Systematic  Culture.     1 27 


what  is  the  world-law  which  decides  the  question?  Are 
the  bonds  of  blood  which  bind  a  son  to  his  father, 
and  which  command  him  to  avenge  that  father,  holier 
than  those  which  bind  him  to  his  mother,  and  command 
him  to  protect  her,  and  to  save  her  life  ?  With  JEschy- 
lus  the  guilt  of  the  original  murder  is  too  great  ;  the 
odious  crime  of  the  queen  must  have  its  punishment  ; 
but  no  sooner  is  she  dead  than  the  avenging  Furies,  that 
punish  matricide  as  such,  and  will  allow  no  palliation, 
rise  upon  the  scene,  and  persecute  the  matricide  to  mad- 
ness. Each  of  these  great  moral  obligations  has  its 
sanction ;  each  is  determined  by  a  divine  law  ;  the 
wretched  mortal  who  is  entangled  in  so  terrible  a  posi- 
tion cannot  escape  from  woe,  for  the  laws  of  the 
gods  are  not  to  be  set  aside,  and  they  show  us  a  con- 
flict which  no  human  mind  can  solve.* 

The  reader  will  already  have  anticipated  the  reason 
why   I  dwell   upon  this  play.      It   is  the  very  problem   ••  Hamlet  "pre- 

,  .    ,      _,,     ,  .  1  11      1    •         1  [      11     sents  the  same 

which  Shakespeare  has  rehandled  in  the  greatest  of  all  problem, 
his  plays.  Hamlet  has  before  him  the  very  same  prob- 
lem. Its  solution  is  so  terrible  a  strain  upon  him  that  it 
unhinges  his  mind,  and  if  he  is  forbidden  by  the  ethics 
of  a  Christian  age  to  lay  hands  upon  his  mother,  never- 
theless her  death  is  required  to  satisfy  justice,  and  his  to 
remove  him  from  a  house  polluted  beyond  cure  with  the 
stains  of  lust  and  violence. 

The  fact  that  yEschylus  two  thousand  years  before 
Shakespeare  felt  out  the  same  great  controversy,  and 
handled  it  with  no  less  grandeur  and  depth,  shows 
perhaps,    better  than  a  thousand  analogies  in   material 


*  The  final  escape  of  Orestes  by  the  casting  vote  of  Athena,  when  the  Areo- 
pagus at  Athens  was  equally  divided  on  the  ground  that  the  child  is  really 
derived  from  its  father  and  not  its  mother,  is  a  poor  and  lame  conclusion,  in  a 
scene  intended  for  a  political  purpose,  and  very  damaging  to  the  dignity  of 
tragedy.  But  such  inequalities  are  met  with  among  other  great  poets  also. 
No  human  genius  is  without  its  flaws. 


128 


A  Survey  of  Greek   Civilization. 


Highly  intelli- 
gent audience 
necessary  for 
appreciation  of 
Aschvlus. 


Greek  music  far 
behind  poetry. 


comforts,  how  completely  modern,  in  the  truest  sense, 
was  the  culture  of  the  Greeks.  We  are  at  a  loss  to 
know  how  so  difficult  and  novel  a  drama  could  possibly 
have  been  followed  by  any  audience.  There  is  certainly 
no  modern  audience  who  could  do  so  without  previous 
study  of  the  words.  Yet  it  is  very  doubtful  whether 
such  previous  study  was  possible  to  the  hearers  of 
^schylus.  Novelty  was  an  essential  feature  in  the 
plays  acted  for  competition,  and  though  copies  certainly 
became  accessible  after  the  performance,  it  seems  likely 
that  these  extraordinary  dramas  were  played  to  a  very 
imperfectly  prepared  audience. 

It  seems  to  me  that  no  problem  in  the  history  of  civi- 
lization is  more  deeply  interesting  than  to  fathom  if 
possible  the  life  and  other  occupations  of  the  people  who 
were  fed  upon  such  intellectual  diet.  We  know  that  the 
poet  himself  composed  the  music  of  his  dramas,  which 
were  almost  like  our  operas  in  the  prominence  of  the 
melic  and  orchestic  side,*  as  the  Greeks  would  call 
the  adjuncts  to  stage  poetry. 

But  there  is  every  reason  to  think  that,  transcendent 
as  is  the  poetry,  and  fit  for,  nay,  too  good  for,  any 
modern  stage,  the  music  would  appear  to  us  simply 
barbarous.  Sister  arts,  as  I  said  already,  do  not 
advance  along  parallel  lines  abreast  ;  one  may  be  far  in 
advance  of  the  rest,  and  in  this  case  the  relics  we  have 
of  later  Greek  music  give  us  no  suggestion  that  we 
should  appreciate  its  earlier  forms. 

Regarding  sculpture  we  are  better  informed,  and  here 
the  case  is  all  the  more  interesting,  as  that  art,  before 
another  century  had  passed  over,  had  become  so  perfect 
that  all  the  efforts  of  all  our  present  civilization  have  never 


*  That  is  to  say,  the  musical  and  dancing  side.     The  orchestra  in  a  Greek 
theater  was  so  called  because  it  was  a  dancing-place. 


Theseus  with  the  Marathontan  Bull 


130 


A  Survey  of  Greek   Civilization. 


Sculpture  not 
yet  abreast  of 
poetry. 


Architecture 
probably  not 
more  advanced 
than  sculpture. 


attained,  or  even  approached  to  it.  Fortunately  we 
have  a  few  specimens  of  the  plastic  art  of  the  earlier 
time — two  or  three  tomb-reliefs,  the  figure  of  Theseus 
carrying  the  Marathonian  bull,  and,  best  of  all,  the  very 
remarkable  series  of  goddesses  or  priestesses  found 
recently  on  the  Acropolis  and  undoubtedly  part  of  the 
ornaments  of  the  older  temples  then,  which  were  burnt, 
and  their  statues  overthrown,  by  the  Persians.  Thus 
the  strange  series  of  ladies  with  their  rich  though  con- 
ventional dressing  of  the  hair,  their  very  gaudy  but 
elegant  dresses,  their  stereotyped  smile,  tell  us  what  the 
hearers  of  great  poetry  could  admire  as  representations 
of  the  human  figure.  There  seems  in  them  but  a  some- 
what improved  representation,  in  stone,  of  the  grotesque 
figures  common  on  the  archaic  vases  ;  there  is  that  dis- 
regard of  life  and  adherence  to  a  conventional  type 
which  characterizes  art  in  its  infancy.  Who  could 
imagine  that  in  fifty  years  more  Phidias  would  be  at 
work  in  his  studio  ? 

We  are  not  informed  about  the  architecture  of  these 
days.  We  know  that  the  wooden  pillars,  supporting 
a  wooden  architrave  with  brick  walls  and  terra-cotta 
facing,  had  made  way  for  stone  temples  built  on  the  same 
model.  The  original  wooden  structure  may  be  plainly 
felt  by  any  one  who  studies  any  Greek  temple.  There 
are  some  drums  of  pillars  of  an  older  Parthenon  built 
into  the  great  circuit  wall,  which  was  raised  around  the 
huge  platform,  made  of  all  the  older  ruins  and  rubbish, 
whereon  Pericles  and  his  friends  set  up  the  perfect 
buildings  whose  remains  are  still  there.  These  drums 
look  rude  and  clumsy  beside  the  finer  work  which  is 
near  them.  A  huge  terra-cotta  composition  represent- 
ing a  monster  of  the  serpent  kind,  used  no  doubt  to 
ornament  the  pediment  (gable  end)  of  one  of  the  older 


Passage  from  Sporadic  to  Systematic  Culture.     131 


is 


tem- 


temples,  is  now  to  be  seen  on  the  Acropolis,  and 
rather  grotesque  and  ugly  than  grand.  It  is  therefore, 
on  the  whole,  likely  that  the  architecture  of  this  people 
kept  pace  with  their  sculpture,  and  did  not  attain  to 
dignity  and  harmony  till  the  next  generation.  But  this 
is  not  certain.  Most  critics  seem  to  place  the  great 
temple  at  Paestum  in  the  sixth  century  B.  C.  If  this  be 
so,  even  outlying  Greeks,  who  had  settled  beyond  the  £°|ts^e0ef*_ 
borders  of  Magna  Graecia,  could  then  erect  a  splendid  pleat  Paestum. 
building,  massive,  dignified,  and  perfect  in  its  pro- 
portions. But  I  gravely  doubt  its  age.  We  have  no 
record  or  mention  of  it  in  any  ancient  author.  Such 
splendor  was  so  common  in  Greek  cities  that  but  a  very 
small  number  of  our  extant  ruins  could  have  been 
discovered  by  following  the  indications  of  the  historians 
or  antiquaries.  In  its  proportions  it  seems  analogous 
enough  to  the  great  temple  at  Olympia  for  us  to  place  it 
in  the  same  century — that  is  to  say,  after  the  Persian 
wars  were  over.  The  few  gaunt  pillars  standing  at 
Corinth  may  possibly  be  older  ;  but  the  building  to 
which  they  belonged  is  too  ruined  to  form  any  judgment 
of  its  general  effect. 

As  regards  the  private  architecture  of  the  day,  it  is  all 

0  •    1  1       1  •         1        N°  evidence 

eone  ;    probably    the    cheap    materials    and    the    simple   from  domestic 

o  >     r  J  .  ,       architecture. 

construction  of  men  who  desired  to  lodge  their  gods 
splendidly,  but  were  careless  of  themselves,  would  not 
have  lasted,  even  through  quiet  times,  very  long.  The 
life  of  these  people  was  in  the  open  air,  in  the  fields  and 
the  market-place,  and  they  only  retired  into  their  houses 
to  eat  or  to  sleep.  Their  houses  were  of  little  value  to 
them.  The  gods  and  the  state  occupied  all  their 
interests.  The  tragedies  of  ^schylus  as  contrasted 
with  the  odes  of  Pindar  show  how  deeply  they  thought 
about  their  gods,   how  moral  theology  was   displacing 


132 


A  Survey  of  Greek   Civilization. 


Rise  of  moral 
theology. 


Greek  talent 
for  expression. 


Its  effect  on 
politics. 


stories  about  the  gods,  so  that  their  alleged  adventures 
were  now  far  less  interesting  than  their  moral  qualities. 
This  deeper  view  was  derived,  I  think,  from  their 
completer  studies  in  politics — a  science  in  which  they 
already  showed  the  same  mastery  that  they  showed  in 
their  poetry.  It  is  perhaps  a  special  talent  for  expres- 
sion, for  language  as  distinguished  from  other  human 
products,  which  specially  marks  the  Greeks.  In  poetry 
we  know  the  result.  But  in  prose  long  before  the 
development  of  forensic  oratory  as  a  studied  art,  there 
must  have  been  a  great  development  of  natural  elo- 
quence, of  animated  discussion,  of  that  free  speech 
which  the  Greeks  regarded  as  their  dearest  liberty.  It 
is  certain  that  this  talent  would  react  upon  their  think- 
ing, and  produce  that  clearness  of  insight,  that  general 
appreciation  of  sound  argument,  which  is  perfectly 
necessary  to  any  sober  democratic  government.  For 
there,  it  is  by  persuading  the  majority  that  the  actions 
of  the  state  are  determined.  Themistocles  and  Aristides 
carried  on  their  controversies  before  the  people  ;  the  one 
persuaded  the  people  to  become  a  naval  force,  and  to 
fortify  their  city  with  impregnable  defenses  ;  the  other 
persuaded  the  Greeks  of  the  islands  and  coast  cities  of 
the  ^Egean,  not  more  by  his  upright  character  than  by 
his  arguments,  to  look  away  from  Sparta  as  a  useless 
and  lazy  president  of  Greece,  and  put  themselves  under 
the  energetic  guidance  of  Athens.  But  now  we  are 
passing  into  a  new  stage  of  Greek  civilization,  which  will 
require  a  separate  chapter. 


CHAPTER  V. 

THE     LIFE     OF     THE     NATION     FROM     THE     DEFEAT     OF 

THE     PERSIANS    (479    B.    C.  )    TILL     THE     FALL 

OF    IMPERIAL    ATHENS     (404    B.     C.). 

It  is  very  strange  that  the  period  following  upon  the 
decisive  defeat  of  the  "eastern  barbarians"  is  so  little  Lack  of  detailed 
prominent  in  Greek  history.  We  should  have  thought  ha1fTen°uryXt 
that  with  this  great  outburst  of  national  energy,  the 
forces  employed  and  matured  in  the  great  war  would 
forthwith  have  turned  into  other  lines,  and  made  their 
country  splendid  in  art  and  in  literature  as  well  as  in 
science  and  in  commerce.  Yet  such  is  not  the  case. 
The  Persian  and  the  Peloponnesian  Wars  are  separated 
by  a  half  century,  in  which  we  can  trace  the  rise  and 
waning  of  the  Athenian  Empire  over  the  sea,  and  in  the 
latter  part  of  which  arises  a  great  galaxy  of  writers,  both 
in  poetry  and  prose.  But  though  these  works  tell  us 
much,  the  history  is  only  before  us  in  outline,  and  when 
we  seek  to  penetrate  the  mist  that  covers  the  rest  of 
Greece,  we  have  of  Sparta,  Argos,  Thebes  only  vague 
or  brief  information.  It  is  no  doubt  an  accident  ;  it  is 
the  loss  of  the  historians  who  treated  of  these  matters,    P.ue  to loss  of 

historians. 

with  the  exception  of  Thucydides,  whose  subject  only 
permitted  him  to  give  a  short  retrospect.  Plutarch's 
"  Life  of  Pericles,"  drawn  from  good  and  early  sources, 
which  have  not  yet  been  identified  by  the  Germans  who 
seek  after  them,  shows  what  might  have  been  the  case 
had  the  memoirs  of  the  day,  those  of  Ion  and  Stesim- 

133 


134 


A  Survey  of  Greek   Civilization. 


Our  conception 
of  Greek  poli- 
tics enlarged 
and  modified  bj 

the   new  Aristo- 
telian treatise. 


Injurious  effects 
of  Persian  War 
on  Asiatic 
Greeks. 


Effect  on 
commerce. 


brotos  and  the  rest,  been  preserved.  But  there  is  very 
little  to  guide  us  now. 

Our  best  information  is  concerning  politics,  concern- 
ing the  successive  steps  by  which  the  Athenians  waxed 
great,  and  this  side  of  the  period  has  received  great 
additional  light  from  the  "Polity  of  the  Athenians," 
found  in  Egypt  not  long  since.  But,  as  if  our  difficulties 
were  not  already  great  enough,  their  author,  long  since 
received  as  Aristotle  by  Plutarch  and  the  grammarians 
who  quoted  from  him,  differs  in  material  points  from 
Thucydides,  Herodotus,  and  Xenophon.  This  work, 
however,  is  not  intended  to  discuss  or  display  our 
difficulties. 

We  can  still  see  reasons,  however,  why  the  epoch 
before  us  should  not  have  been  an  epoch  generally  great 
in  literature  or  generally  brilliant  in  art,  however  great 
the  exception  in  Athens  and  a  few  art  centers.  In  the 
first  place,  the  Asiatic  Greeks  were  considerably  dam- 
aged in  wealth  and  importance.  Though  the  cities  on 
headlands  and  on  the  adjacent  islands  could  be  protected 
by  the  Athenian  navy,  the  inland  cities  were  well  nigh 
lost  to  the  nationality,  being  subject  to  the  dominion, 
and  probably  the  harsher  dominion,  of  the  Persians. 
Commerce  too,  and  intercourse  in  general,  with  the  rich 
and  populous  interior  of  Asia  Minor  must  have  been 
much  impeded,  since  the  Greeks  were  now  open  and 
vigorous  enemies  of  the  Persians,  and  disposed  to  carry 
on  a  permanent  war  between  the  East  and  the  West. 

In  this  way,  therefore,  Hellenedom  was  somewhat 
curtailed,  and  the  example  of  courtly  luxury  formerly 
often  seen  at  the  Persian  court  and  at  those  of  the 
satraps,  must  have  been  rarer  and  less  influential.  The 
luxurious  life  of  the  old  Ionians  had  passed  away,  and 
with  it  perhaps  many  of  the  refinements  of  an  earlier 


The  Life  of  the  Nation,   479-404  B.   C.         135 

age.      For  democracy  had  become  fashionable,  and  with 

democracy  ruder  manners  and  simpler  fare,   while  the   ^f^"1-* 

energies    formerly    directed    to   art    and    to    commerce   favor  of  polities. 

merged   in  politics.      We  know   in   our  own  time  how 

absorbing   politics  are,  and   how  a   nation   that   lives  in 

them  may  come  to  think  of  nothing  else.     It  is  not  every 

city,  it  is  not  one  in  a  thousand,  that  can  find  genius 

and  energy  for  all  paths  of  life,  as  did  the  Athenians.      I 

think,  therefore,  that  the  predominance  of  politics  had 

much  to  say  to  the  apparent  neglect,  or  want  of  advance, 

in  material  life  in  many  parts  of  Greece.      The  Spartans 

of  the  Peloponnesian  War  appear  rather  inferior  to  those 

of   the    Persian.     The    rest    of   Greece    does    not    seem 

advancing,  except  in  architecture  and  sculpture.      There 

are  no  new  discoveries  to  make  the  life  of  men  easier. 

There   is   no  such    advance  as    we    have   made    in   our 

century  since  the  great  wars  ceased.      But  silently  there 

1  1  <-™  1  r     1  -jji         r    Steady  progress 

must  have  been  progress.      I  he  temples  01  the  middle  of  of  art  and 
this  century,  notably  the  great  temple  at  Olympia,  the 
Parthenon   and    Theseum    at   Athens,    and  the  best   of 
what  we  call  the  archaic  school  of  sculpture,  are  derived 
from  this  time. 

The  stimulus  of  Athens  accounts  for  a  great  deal. 
Many  pupils  must  have  gone  out  from  the  school  of 
Phidias  and  spread  abroad  the  great  and  subtle  princi- 
ples of  his  art.  Ictinus,  the  builder  of  the  Parthenon, 
wrote  a  book  describing  it.  Such  a  book  must  have 
been  a  precious  handbook  of  architecture  to  all  that 
acquired  it.  And  acquire  it  they  could,  for  now  that 
intercourse  with  Egypt,  during  its  revolt  from  the 
Persians,  was  easy,  the  use  of  papyrus  must  have  spread  s  ad  of 
rapidly  to  all  parts  of  ALgean,  and  so  books  must  have 
been  easily  multiplied.  The  great  poets  from  Pindar 
downward  could  not  possibly  compose  their  elaborate 


literature. 


1 36 


A  Survey  of  Greek   Civilization. 


Peculiarities  of 
Athenian  naval 
warfare. 


Perfection  of 
marine  tactics. 


choral  systems  without  writing.  The  plays  of  yEschylus 
and  Sophocles  were  not  laid  by  after  the  first  per- 
formance, but  read  and  quoted  among  the  crowd  at 
Athens.  In  this  way  knowledge  must  have  increased, 
and  life  must  have  become,  if  not  more  luxurious  and 
comfortable,  at  least  more  modern. 

The  development  of  the  Attic  navy  was  perhaps  the 
most  singular  thing  of  that  time.  For  two  centuries 
back,  the  so-called  trireme,  a  narrow  decked  ship 
worked  with  three  banks  of  oars,  had  been  known  and 
used  for  war.  No  modern  naval  constructor  has  been 
able  to  explain  to  us  how  rows  of  oars,  one  higher  than 
the  other,  could  possibly  be  managed  without  fouling  or 
hopeless  awkwardness.  None  of  us  has  ever  succeeded 
in  producing  a  possible  model  of  such  a  ship.  Yet  this 
was  the  usual  ship  of  war,  and,  as  the  Athenians 
developed  it,  went  long  journeys  at  eight  or  ten  miles  an 
hour,  a  pace  not  inferior  to  the  ordinary  coasting 
steamers  now  in  those  waters.  It  was  not  detained  by 
calm,  and  was  in  this  way  better  than  our  sailing  ships. 
But  so  completely  did  the  Athenians  make  these  ships 
a  matter  of  naval  tactics,  of  evolutions  with  the  actual 
boat,  that  in  their  palmy  days  they  carried  only  ten 
armed  men  as  marine  soldiers,  while  there  were  two 
hundred  to  manage  the  oars.  They  won  their  battles 
not  by  boarding  and  fighting,  but  by  so  maneuvering 
that  they  rammed  their  opponents'  ships,  and  sank 
them,  dealing  with  the  crews  when  they  lay  helpless  in 
their  disabled  and  sinking  ship.  A  very  small  battle 
fought  by  their  Admiral  Phormion  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Gulf  of  Corinth,  described  by  Thucydides,  has  become 
more  famous  than  many  great  and  decisive  sea  fights, 
because  it  shows  us  clearly  the  great  perfection  to  which 
the  Attic  navy  had  brought  its  marine  tactics.      Each 


The  Life  of  the  Nation,   4.JQ-J.04.  B.   C.         137 

captain  must  have  had  his  men  under  the  same  training, 
the  same  control,  that  the  captain  of  a  British  ship  has 
his  crew.* 

Turning  back  to  literature,  which  is,  after  all,  far  our 
clearest  evidence  of  Attic  civilization  in  its  perfection,  we 
find  quite  a  new  and  peculiar  character  imprinted  upon 
it  by  the  Attic  spirit.  It  is  remarkable  that  the  perfec- 
tion of  prose  writing  was  so  late- — -not  till  the  very  end 
of  the  term  before  us.  In  any  case  prose  is  always  ' 
a  product  of  the  maturity  of  literature.    The  imagination   Reasons  why 

.  -in-  i-      •  perfection  in 

produces    poetry ;  it    is    rational    reflection,    discussion,    poetry  precedes 

....  .        ,    perfection  in 

practical  use  that  produce  prose,  and  this  is  not  required  prose, 
till  a  nation  has  arrived  at  the  fulness  of  its  vigor 
and  the  maturity  of  its  life.  There  is  indeed  much  sim- 
plicity and  good  sense  even  in  such  early  poets  as  Solon, 
but  it  was  not  till  Athens  came  victoriously  out  of 
the  Persian  wars,  and  acquired  a  great  empire,  not 
till  poetry  and  religion  were  separated  from  the  language 
of  history  and  of  politics,  that  the  severance  of  the 
two  great  branches  of  letters  permitted  the  later  of 
the  two  to  attain  perfection. 

Yet  it  cannot  by  any  means  be  said  that  Attic  prose 
summed  up  in  itself  all  the  perfections  of  the  Greek 
intellect.  No  Attic  book  ever  replaced,  indeed  ever 
equalled  in  its  way,  the  fascinating  history  of  Herodotus; 
and  this  work  was  well  known  at  Athens,  and  very 
probably  read  out  to  the  wits  and  literary  men  of 
that  city.  Yet  the  broad  sympathies  of  the  great 
master  were  foreign  to  the  Attic  school  ;  it  was  the  poli-   „ 

_  1  Narrow 

tics  of  their  empire,  the  peculiarities  of  their  own  city  sympathies 
and  its  adversaries,  which  filled  their  minds.     These  they  Athenians. 

*Such  actions  as  that  of  Phormion  do  not  depend  upon  their  size  for  their 
importance.  The  first  action  in  which  Captain  Abney  Hastings  brought  steam 
to  bear  upon  the  Turkish  fleet,  and  destroyed  a  squadron  with  his  single  ship, 
the  Karterio,  working  one  gun,  was  also  an  epoch  in  naval  warfare.  Cf. 
Finlay's  "  History  of  Greece,"  VII.,  14  sq. 


us 


A  Survey  of  Greek   Civilization. 


Effect  of  arti- 
ficiality  pro- 
duced by  over- 
subtlety  of 
language. 


High  standard 
of  intellectual 
culture  shown 
hv  Attic  prose. 


analyzed  with  precision  and  with  depth.  But  they 
are  strictly  men  of  the  present  ;  the  orators  especially, 
also  the  historians,  and  still  more  the  philosophers. 
Everywhere,  even  in  the  imagination  of  Plato  (who 
comes  later),  reason  holds  its  sway,  and  there  is  a  strict- 
ness and  chastity  in  all  Attic  style  which  permit  only 
a  little  ornament,  and  that  of  the  most  carefully  chosen 
kind.  These  writers  all  presuppose  an  exceedingly  in- 
telligent public,  catching  the  writer's  meaning  at  every 
hint,  guessing  the  point  of  every  faint  allusion,  despising 
dulness  and  hating  mediocrity.  This  deep-seated  ambi- 
tion to  be  clever,  which  soon  became  a  necessity  for  suc- 
cess, tended  to  produce  an  over-subtlety  of  language, 
not  conducive  to  real  dignity  ;  the  whole  effect,  intended 
to  be  artistic,  and  in  most  cases  really  so,  is  often,  even 
in  the  greatest  of  them,  in  the  prose  of  Thucydides, 
in  the  poetry  of  Sophocles,  distinctly  artificial.  Antithe- 
sis, balancing  of  epithets,  a  play  of  words  rather  than  the 
labor  of  thought,  sometimes  disappoint  the  reader,  even 
though  the  grace  and  purity  of  the  language,  both  in  its 
strict  and  simple  vocabulary,  and  in  the  rich  variety  of 
its  particles,  are  the  despair  of  any  translator. 

It  is  this  prose,  reaching  from  Thucydides  to  Demos- 
thenes in  its  golden  age,  in  its  silver  down  to  Plutarch 
and  Dio  Chrysostom,  or  even  Lucian,  which  must  ever 
demonstrate  to  any  intelligent  man  who  learns  to  under- 
stand it,  that  no  society  ever  was,  or  ever  will  be,  more 
intellectually  cultivated  than  these  Greeks.  No  audience 
has  arisen  ever  since  which  could  follow  or  appreciate 
such  delicate  perfection  as  is  the  standard  of  good  Attic 
prose.  Future  nations  may  be  infinitely  more  learned 
in  material  things  ;  they  may  have  myriad  facts  of 
history  and  facts  of  science  put  into  their  heads  ;  they 
may    have   the  full  experiences  of   two  thousand  more 


The  Life  of  the  Nation,  479-404  B.   C.         139 


years  boiled  down  into  an  essence,  and  administered  to 
them  from  youth  up,  so  that  they  may  enter  life  carry- 
ing with  them  a  mental  storehouse  of  which  every  shelf 
is  labelled  and  laden  with  knowledge.  But  this  very 
process  will  probably  diminish  rather  than  increase  that 
appreciation  of  excellence  which  the  perfection  of  good 
sense,  good  taste,  and  rational  training  produced  in  the 
Athens  of  Pericles  and  Plato.  What  is  perhaps  more  Its  permanence. 
wonderful  is  that  this  great  result  did  not  die  out  when 
the  few  generations  passed  away  whose  genius  created 
this  wonderful  condition  of  things.  The  Greek  intellect 
was  so  permanently  raised  by  the  education  of  this 
perfect  prose  that  even  down  to  the  age  of  decadence, 
among  slaves  and  foreigners  who  learned  its  use,  the 
audiences  of  St.  Paul  understood  arguments  and  appre- 
ciated subtleties  which  no  practical  teacher  would 
venture  to  set  undiluted  before  any  modern  collection  of 
men. 

But  it  must  not  be  for  one  moment  imagined  that  this 
result  was  attained  by  flashes  of  heaven-born  genius  ;  it  JheresuUo" 
was  the  result  of  genius  doing  what  real  genius  always 
does,  taking  an  infinity  of  trouble.  Though  the  early 
writers,  such  as  Thucydides,  had  ample  models  of  clear 
and  simple  diction  before  them,  not  only  in  the  Ionic 
prose  of  older  men,  but  also  in  the  grace  and  clearness 
of  Euripides' s  dialogue,  it  is  plain  that  they  plume  them- 
selves not  upon  the  narrative,  which  is  simple  and  clear 
enough,  but  on  those  subtle  and  contorted  lucubrations 
which  assume  a  rhetorical  form,  and  are  efforts  at  highly 
artistic  composition.  We  have  remains  of  Thucydides' s 
master,  Antiphon,  a  strong  and  dangerous  spirit,  who 
helped  the  aristocratic  party  at  Athens  with  his  intellect 
and  with  his  pen  more  than  with  a  sword,  and  whose 
forensic   talents,   long    used    to  the    criminal    courts  at 


art. 


140 


A  Survey  of  Greek   Civilization. 


Intricacy  of 
style  of  Thu- 
cvdides. 


Translation 

from 

Thucvdides. 


Athens,  were  last  used  in  his  great  personal  defense  of 
his  own  life  and  policy,  when  accused  and  convicted  of 
political  murders  and  of  treason  against  the  democracy. 
We  have  some  half  dozen  of  his  earlier  speeches,  but 
how  dry  and  harsh  they  are,  like  a  fine  wine  that  has 
not  yet  ripened,  full  of  close  reasoning,  of  strong  sense, 
but  devoid  of  all  the  grace  and  perfume  of  the  mature 
vintage. 

In  the  same  manner,  when  Thucydides  turns  to  reflec- 
tions in  his  history,  reflections  which  usually  take  the 
form  of  debates,  he  makes  his  speakers  deliver  periods 
so  contorted  and  obscure  that  they  could  only  delight  an 
audience  enamored  of  subtleties,  and  longing  to  exercise 
their  acuteness  upon  enigmas  of  diction.  The  thoughts 
of  these  contorted  sentences  are  seldom  deep  ;  they  are 
not,  as  many  commentators  pretend,  crowded  too 
closely  together  for  clear  expression  ;  the  same  idea,  in 
itself  obvious  enough,  is  taken  up  and  tossed  about  like 
a  shuttlecock  between  battledores  of  antithesis.  The 
reader  who  expects  a  new  truth  in  each  sentence  is 
deceived  ;  he  is  only  chewing  the  cud  of  the  last  clause, 
but  he  is  so  puzzled  and  interested  with  these  ingenui- 
ties that  he  feels  himself  performing  a  high  intellectual 
process.  If  I  here  give  a  specimen  from  Jowett's  trans- 
lation, it  is  necessary  to  warn  the  reader  that  his  pellucid 
English  is  no  representative  of  the  weaknesses,  but  only 
of  the  strength  of  his  original.  He  could  no  more  have 
allowed  a  sentence  such  as  those  in  which  Thucydides 
delighted  to  issue  from  his  hand,  than  Racine  would 
have  allowed  the  Greek  tragic  poet  to  speak  his  realities 
upon  the  French  stage. 

They  pretend  that  they  first  offered  to  have  the  matter 
decided  by  arbitration.  The  appeal  to  justice  might  have  some 
meaning  in  the  mouth  of  cue  who  before  he  had  recourse  to 


The  Life  of  the  Nation,  479-404  B.  C.        141 

arms  acted  honorably,  as  he  now  talks  fairly,  but  not  when  it 
is  made  from  a  position  of  security  and  advantage.  Whereas 
these  men  began  by  laying  siege  to  Epidamnus,  and  not  until 
they  feared  our  vengeance  did  they  put  forward  their  specious 
offer  of  arbitration.  And  as  if  the  wrong  which  they  have 
themselves  done  at  Epidamnus  were  not  enough,  they  now 
come  hither  and  ask  you  to  be,  not  their  allies,  but  their 
accomplices  in  crime,  and  would  have  you  receive  them  when 
they  are  at  enmity  with  us.  But  they  ought  to  have  come  when 
they  were  out  of  all  danger,  not  at  a  time  when  we  are  smart- 
ing under  an  injury  and  they  have  good  reason  to  be  afraid. 
You  have  never  derived  any  benefit  from  their  power,  but  they 
will  now  be  benefited  by  yours,  and,  although  innocent  of  their 
crimes,  you  will  equally  be  held  responsible  by  us.  If  you 
were  to  have  shared  the  consequences  with  them  they  ought 
long  ago  to  have  shared  the  power  with  you.  We  have  shown 
that  our  complaints  are  justified  and  that  our  adversaries  are 
tyrannical  and  dishonest ;  we  will  now  prove  to  you  that  you 
have  no  right  to  receive  them.  Admitting  that  the  treaty 
allows  any  unenrolled  cities  to  join  either  league,  this  provision 
does  not  apply  to  those  who  have  in  view  the  injury  of  others, 
but  only  to  him  who  is  in  need  of  protection — certainly  not  to 
one  who  forsakes  his  allegiance  and  who  will  bring  war  instead 
of  peace  to  those  who  receive  him,  or  rather,  if  they  are  wise, 
will  not  receive  him  on  such  terms.  And  war  the  Corcyrseans 
will  bring  to  you  if  you  listen  to  them  and  not  to  us.  For  if 
you  become  the  allies  of  the  Corcyraeans  you  will  be  no  longer 
at  peace  with  us,  but  will  be  converted  into  enemies  ;  and  we 
must,  if  you  take  their  part,  in  defending  ourselves  against 
them,  defend  ourselves  against  you.  But  you  ought  in  common 
justice  to  stand  aloof  from  both  ;  or,  if  you  must  join  either, 
you  should  join  us  and  go  to  war  with  them  ;  to  Corinth  you 
are  at  all  events  bound  by  treaty,  but  with  Corcyra  you  never 
even  entered  into  a  temporary  negotiation.  And  do  not  set  the 
precedent  of  receiving  the  rebellious  subjects  of  others.  At 
the  revolt  of  Samos,  when  the  other  Peloponnesians  were 
divided  upon  the  question  of  giving  aid  to  the  rebels,  we 
voted  in  your  favor  and  expressly  maintained  "that  every  one 
should  be  allowed  to  chastise  his  own  allies."  If  you  mean  to 
receive  and  assist  evil-doers,  we  shall  assuredly  gain  as  many 
allies  of  yours  as  you  will  of  ours  ;  and  you  will  establish  a  prin- 


142 


A  Survey  of  Greek   Civilization. 


The  funeral 
oration  of 
Pericles. 


The  style  of 
Sophocles. 


It  reflects  the 
current  taste 
for  subtlety. 


ciple  which  will  tell  against  yourselves  more  than  against  us.* 

Here  there  is  but  one  idea,  with  a  few  appendages. 
The  same  criticism  applies  to  most  chapters  in  these 
speeches,  and  if  we  take  up  the  most  famous  of  them, 
the  "Epitaphios"  or  funeral  laudation  put  into  the 
mouth  of  Pericles.f  we  shall  be  surprised  at  the  cranki- 
ness, the  vagueness,  and  even  the  want  of  tact  which 
it  frequently  displays.  Nevertheless  it  is  not  without 
a  certain  grave  dignity,  and  this  quality  it  is  which 
has  obtained  for  Thucydides  a  permanent  hearing  and  a 
high  respect  in  all  literary  ages.  The  high  standard  of 
political  self-denial,  of  self-sacrifice  for  the  glory  of 
his  country,  which  he  sets  forth,  has  something  splendid 
about  it,  and  there  are  occasional  flashes  of  felicitous 
phrase,  as  there  are  even  in  Mr.  Meredith's  novels. \ 

Much  of  this  criticism,  mutatis  mutandis,  applies 
to  the  historian's  greatest  contemporary,  Sophocles. 
For  we  can  hardly  consider  ^schylus's  literary  activity 
as  coinciding  with  his  younger  rivals.  Sophocles  is 
a  very  great  poet ;  he  has  many  of  the  highest  qualities; 
his  tragedies  will  never  cease  to  be  quoted  as  the  noblest 
bloom  of  Periclean  Athens  ;  but  there  can  be  no  doubt 
whatever  that  his  style  reflects  the  current  taste  for  sub- 
tlety and  obscurity,  that  his  vocabulary  was  anything  but 
pure,  and  that  his  earlier  works  at  least  retained  much  of 
the  harshness  of  the  new  vintage. ||  Here  again  we  have 
an  author  quite  beyond  translation,  even  though  the 
reader  will  find  that  Mr.  Whitelaw's  version,  among 
many  good  ones,  is  a  wonderful  attempt  to  transfer  the 


*  Thucydides  I.,  Chaps.  XXXIX. -XL.    Jowett's  translation. 

tBook  II.,  Chaps.  XXXV.-XLYI. 

\  Indeed,  if  Mr.  Meredith  were  set  himself  to  translate  the  speeches  of  Thu- 
cydides we  might  expect  a  remarkably  faithful  version  in  the  higher  sense,  not 
word  for  word,  but  spirit  for  spirit. 

II  The  reader  will  find  the  facts  which  support  these  views  in  the  chapter  on 
Sophocles  in  my  "  Greek  Literature." 


The  Life  of  the  Nation,  4.7 9-404  B.   C.         143 


Attic  bee  into  a  foreign  land.  The  reason  why  Euripi- 
des, an  inferior  poet,  though  a  greater  thinker,  was 
so  frequently  successful  in  his  day,  and  presently  ousted 
both  yEschylus  and  Sophocles  from  public  favor,  is  that 
he  made  his  diction  pure  and  his  style  clear,  and 
so  spoke  to  the  larger  public  that  had  not  been  trained 
in  all  the  subtleties  and  the  cleverness  of  the  over- 
refined  Attic  public. 

There  is  reason  to  think  that  the  strain  upon  the  social 
life  at  Athens  must  have  been  very  great,  during  the 
period  of  its  brilliance.  A  large  imperial  policy,  an  ex- 
tended commercial  activity,  the  training  of  a  navy 
to  sweep  the  seas,  the  practice  of  an  oratory  to  astonish 
the  audience,  and  last,  but  not  least,  the  rebuilding  of 
the  city  to  appear  worthy  of  its  greatness — all  this  must 
have  kept  things  going  at  a  fever  heat,  and  Plutarch, 
our  only  informant  concerning  the  art  side,  notices 
specially  the  extraordinary  expedition  with  which  the 
great  buildings  of  the  time  were  erected.  Yet  so  far  as 
we  know  them,  they  seem  erected  to  last  forever.  Dr. 
Dorpfeld,  walking  with  me  about  the  Parthenon,  re- 
marked that  in  his  mind — he  was  a  professional  archi- 
tect—  such  a  building  could  never  again,  and  ought 
never  again,  be  created.  The  beauty  and  perfection  of 
all  the  invisible  parts  are  such  that  the  cost  of  labor  and 
money  must  be  enormous.  There  is  no  show  whatever 
for  much  of  this  extraordinary  finish,  which  can  only  be 
seen  by  going  up  on  the  roof,  or  by  opening  a  wall.  It 
is  a  building  like  that  very  religious  building  of  the 
twelfth  century,  when  artists  worked  absolutely  for 
the  glory  of  God  and  for  the  salvation  of  their  souls, 
without  regarding  whether  their  work  was  ever  to  be 
seen  of  men.  Yet,  in  both  cases,  the  religiousness 
of  the  unseen  work  has  secured  that  what  is  seen  shall 


Sophocles  con- 
trasted with 
Euripides. 


Feverish 
activity  of 
Athenian  life  at 
this  period. 


The  costly 
perfection  of 
the  Parthenon. 


144  A  Survey  of  Greek   Civilization. 


be  perfect  with  no  ordinary  perfection.      It  is  well  worth 
quoting  the   remarkable  passage   in   Plutarch's   "  Peri- 
cles," Chapters  XII. -XIII.,  which  gives  us  a  vivid  pic- 
ture of  the  art  policy  of  the  great  statesman. 
That  which  was  the  chief  delight  of  the  Athenians  and  the 

Pericfes?y  °f  wonder  of  strangers,  and  which  alone  serves  for  a  proof  that 
the  boasted  power  and  opulence  of  ancient  Greece  is  not 
an  idle  tale,  was  the  magnificence  of  the  temples  and  public 
edifices.  Yet  no  part  of  the  conduct  of  Pericles  moved  the 
spleen  of  his  enemies  more  than  this.  In  their  accusations 
of  him  to  the  people  they  insisted,  "That  he  had  brought  the 
greatest  disgrace  on  the  Athenians  by  removing  the  public 
treasures  of  Greece  from  Delos,  and  taking  them  into  his  own 
custody  ;  that  he  had  not  left  himself  even  the  specious  apology 
of  having  caused  the  money  to  be  brought  to  Athens  for 
its  greater  security,  and  to  keep  it  from  being  seized  by  the  bar- 
barians ;  that  Greece  must  needs  consider  it  as  the  highest 
insult,  and  an  act  of  open  tyranny,  when  she  saw  the  money 
She  had  been  obliged  to  contribute  toward  the  war  lavished  by 
the  Athenians  in  gilding  their  city,  and  ornamenting  it  with 
statues  and  temples  that  cost  a  thousand  talents,  as  a  proud 
and  vain  woman  decks  herself  out  with  jewels."  Pericles 
answered  this  charge    by  observing,    "That  they   were  not 

Pericles's  obliged  to  eive  the  allies  anv  account  of  the  sums  they  had  re- 

ceived,  since  they  had  kept  the  barbarians  at  a  distance, 
and  effectually  defended  the  allies,  who  had  not  furnished 
either  horses,  ships,  or  men,  but  only  contributed  money, 
which  is  no  longer  the  property  of  the  giver,  but  of  the 
receiver,  if  he  performs  the  conditions  on  which  it  is  received. 
That  as  the  state  was  provided  with  all  the  necessaries  of  war, 
its  superfluous  wealth  should  be  laid  out  on  such  works  as, 
when  executed,  would  be  eternal  monuments  of  its  glory,  and 
which,  during  their  execution,  would  diffuse  a  universal  plenty; 
for  as  so  many  kinds  of  labor  and  such  a  variety  of  instru- 
ments and  materials  were  requisite  to  these  undertakings, 
every  art  would  be  exerted,  every  hand  employed,  almost 
the  whole  city  would  be  in  pay,  and  be  at  the  same  time 
both  adorned  and  supported  by  itself."  Indeed,  such  as  were 
of  a  proper  age  and  strength,  were  wanted  for  the  wars, 
and  well  rewarded  for  their  services  ;  and  as  for  the  mechanics 


answer  to  his 
enemies. 


Tfie  Life  of  the  Nation,  4.79-4.04  B.  C.         145 

and  meaner  sort  of  people,  they  went  not  without  their  share  of 
the  public  money  nor  yet  had  they  it  to  support  them  in 
idleness.  By  the  constructing  of  great  edifices,  which  required 
many  arts  and  a  long  time  to  finish  them,  they  had  equal 
pretensions  to  be  considered  out  of  the  treasury  (though  they 
stirred  not  out  of  the  city)  with  the  mariners  and  soldiers,  Encouragement 
guards  and  garrisons  ;  for  the  different  materials,  such  as  stone,  [,0  ^uildin^6" 
brass,  ivory,  gold,  ebony,  and  cypress,  furnished  employment 
to  carpenters,  masons,  brasiers,  goldsmiths,  painters,  turners, 
and  other  artificers  ;  the  conveyance  of  them  by  sea  employed 
merchants  and  sailors,  and  by  land  wheelwrights,  waggoners, 
carriers,  rope-makers,  leather-cutters,  paviors,  and  iron-found- 
ers ;  and  every  art  had  a  number  of  the  lower  people  ranged  in 
proper  subordination  to  execute  it  like  soldiers  under  the  com- 
mand of  a  general.  Thus  by  the  exercise  of  these  different 
trades,  plenty  was  diffused  among  persons  of  every  rank 
and  condition.  Thus  works  were  raised  of  an  astonishing 
magnitude  and  inimitable  beauty  and  perfection,  every  architect 
striving  to  surpass  the  magnificence  of  the  design  with  the 
elegance  of  the  execution  ;  yet  still  the  most  wonderful  cir- 
cumstance was  the  expedition  with  which  they  were  com- 
pleted. Many  edifices,  each  of  which  seems  to  have  required 
the  labor  of  several  successive  ages,  were  finished  during  the 
administration  of  one  prosperous  man.  It  is  said  that  when 
Agatharchus,  the  painter,  valued  himself  on  the  celerity  and 
ease  with  which  he  despatched  his  pieces,  Zeuxis  replied  :  "  If 
I  boast,  it  shall  be  of  the  slowness  with  which  I  finish  mine  "  ;  of  Zeuxis. 
for  ease  and  speed  in  the  execution  seldom  give  a  work 
any  lasting  importance,  or  exquisite  beauty  ;  while,  on  the 
other  hand,  the  time  which  is  expended  in  labor,  is  recovered 
and  repaid  in  the  duration  of  the  performance.  Hence  we 
have  the  more  reason  to  wonder  that  the  structures  raised 
by  Pericles  should  be  built  in  so  short  a  time,  and  yet  built  for 
ages  ;  for  as  each  of  them,  as  soon  as  finished,  had  the  vener- 
able air  of  antiquity  ;  so,  now  they  are  old,  they  have  the 
freshness  of  a  modern  building.  A  bloom  is  diffused  over 
them,  which  preserves  their  aspect  untarnished  by  time,  as 
if  they  were  animate  with  a  spirit  of  perpetual  youth  and 
unfading  elegance.  Phidias  was  appointed  by  Pericles  superin- 
tendent of  all  the  public  edifices,  though  the  Athenians  had 
then  other  eminent  architects  and  excellent  workmen.     The 


146 


A  Survey  of  Greek   Civilization. 


The  Parthenon.  Parthenon,  or  Temple  of  Pallas,  whose  dimensions  had  been  a 
hundred  feet  square,  was  rebuilt  by  Callicrates  and  Ictinus.    .  . 

The  long  wall.  The  long  wall,  the  building  of  which  Socrates  says  he  heard 
Pericles  propose  to  the  people,  was  undertaken  by  Callicrates. 
Cratinus  ridicules  this  work  as  proceeding  very  slowly  : 

"  Stones  upon  stones  the  orator  has  piled, 
With  swelling  words,  but  words  will  build  no  walls." 

The  Odeum.  The  Odeum  or  music  theater,  which  was  likewise  built  by  the 

direction  of  Pericles,  had  within  it  many  rows  of  seats  and  of 
pillars ;  the  roof  was  of  a  conic  figure,  after  the  model, 
we  are  told,  of  the  king  of  Persia's  pavilion.  Cratinus  there- 
fore rallies  him  again  in  his  play  called  "  Thrattae  "  : 

"  As  Jove,  an  onion  on  his  head  he  wears  ; 
As  Pericles,  a  whole  orchestra  bears  ; 
Afraid  of  broils  and  banishment  no  more, 
He  tunes  the  shell  he  trembled  at  before." 

Pericles  at  this  time  exerted  all  his  interest  to  have  a  decree 
made,  appointing  a  prize  for  the  best  performer  in  music 
during  the  Panathenaea  ;  and,  as  he  himself  was  appointed 
judge  and  distributor  of  the  prizes,  he  gave  the  contending 
artists  directions  in  what  manner  to  proceed,  whether  their  per- 
formance was  vocal  or  on  the  flute  or  lyre.  From  that  time 
the  prizes  in  music  were  always  contended  for  in  the  Odeum. 
The  vestibule  of  the  citadel  was  finished  in  five  years  by 
Mnesicles  the  architect.* 


Encouragement 
of  music  Dy 
Pericles. 


Perfect  pro- 
portion of  the 
Parthenon. 


The  group  of  buildings  on  the  Acropolis  of  Athens, 
which  all  date  from  this  golden  epoch,  is  certainly  the 
most  perfect  and  beautiful  in  the  world.  They  are  not 
very  large ;  hugeness  was  no  object  to  the  builders  ;  and 
how  well  these  men  understood  the  permanent  laws  of 
art  is  manifest  from  this  fact,  that  no  hugeness  dwarfs 
their  buildings  by  comparison  ;  no  vastness  makes  them 
look  smaller  than  is  required  for  perfect  beauty.  Come 
if  you  like  fresh  from  St.  Peter's  at  Rome,  or  from  the 
Pont-du-Gard  at  Nimes,  or  from  the  colossal  halls  of  the 


*  Plutarch,  "  Pericles,"  Langhorne's  translation. 


The  Life  of  the  Nation,  479-404  B.  C.         147 

great  temple  at  Luxor,  and  tell  me  if  you  feel  the  Par- 
thenon small  or  insignificant .  So  it  is  with  the  question 
of  richness.  No  display  of  ornament  will  make  it  look 
poor,  even  now  in  its  ruin,  when  its  colors  are  long  since 
faded  and  gone.  Come  fresh  from  St.  Mark's  at  Venice 
or  from  the  Pavian  Certosa,  and  tell  me  whether  the  re- 
maining ornament  seems  to  you  inadequate. 

We  now  know  that  the  marvelous  symmetry  of  the  Effect  of g  m_ 
Parthenon  is  not  attained  by  setting  up  a  four-square  ™etcruyrP™duced 
building  of  very  precious  stone,  with  carved  decorations 
of  great  beauty.  Far  from  being  what  ignorant  ob- 
servers imagine,  an  affair  of  straight  lines,  there  is  not, 
so  far  as  I  know,  a  single  straight  line  in  the  whole 
structure.  The  floor  is  slightly  arched  up,  very  slightly, 
and  not  merely  to  cause  rain  to  run  off,  for  all  the  other 
surfaces  are  also  curved.  The  pillars  are  not  set  at  equal 
intervals,  but  closer  together  near  the  corner  of  the 
building.  The  shafts  swell  toward  the  middle,  none  of 
them  stand  perpendicular,  but  slightly  inclined  inwards. 
We  know  from  comparing  modern  buildings  in  that 
style,  which  do  not  observe  this  law,  that  a  row  of  per- 
pendicular pillars  seems  to  splay  outward  at  either  end 
of  the  row.  This  was  what  Ictinus  chose  to  avoid.  The 
upper  horizontal  lines  of  the  architrave  are  likewise 
curved,  to  avoid  a  similar  unpleasant  illusion  of  the  eye, 
and  all  these  delicate  variations  from  the  right  line  are 
constructed  as  the  arcs  of  vast  circles  standing  in  fixed 
relations.  The  ornament  consisted  of  carving  done  by  use  of  color  on 
the  school  of  Phidias,  and  coloring  of  this  and  all  the  the  carving- 
building  ;  for  the  Athenians  had  no  esteem  for  white 
marble  as  a  surface  ;  in  a  statue  its  coldness  would  have 
been  most  repulsive  to  them.  But  the  color  is  gone,  or 
rather  all  the  various  colors  have  given  place  to  that 
beautiful  gold  brown  with  which  the  Attic  dust  of  ages 


148 


A  Survey  of  Greek  Civilization. 


Erechtheum. 


Material  diffi- 
culties over- 
come. 


has  stained  the  once  painted  marble.  When  new  frag- 
ments are  dug  up  in  modern  excavations,  the  traces  of 
bright  color,  green,  blue,  gold,  red,  are  usually  there. 
As  regards  the  sculpture,  which  consist  of  pediments 
(gable  groups),  the  frieze  (cornice)  along  the  main 
wall,  and  metopes  (originally  plaques  to  stop  the  holes 
between  the  ends  of  the  roof  beams),  they  are  so  well 
known  that  they  need  not  here  be  described,  especially 
as  they  fill  the  principal  chapter  in  every  work  on  Greek 
art. 

Not  less  perfect  than  the  Parthenon  is  the  far  smaller, 
but  even  richer  Erechtheum,  where  the  pillars  with  their 
inward  trend  are  most  gracefully  replaced  by  Caryatides, 
women  with  sacred  baskets  upon  their  heads,  who  rest 
each  upon  the  foot  nearest  the  center,  thus  producing 
the  effect  intended  by  a  mere  natural  pose. 

We  should  willingly  give  away  all  the  speeches  in 
Thucydides  to  have  some  account  of  the  studios  in  which 
Phidias  the  sculptor  and  Ictinus  the  architect  devised 
and  executed  these  marvelous  plans.  The  stone  was 
brought  from  the  marble  quarries  of  Mount  Pentelicus — 
we  can  still  trace  the  road,  and  we  can  wonder  at  the 
huge  cuttings  in  the  mountain,  some  ten  miles  north  of 
Athens.  They  had  no  explosive  to  separate  the  blocks, 
they  had  no  instruments  comparable  to  ours.  But  with 
simple  tools  and  unlimited  slave  labor  they  carried  down 
beams  and  blocks  of  marble  often  thirty  feet  long  and 
hundreds  of  tons  in  weight ;  they  carried  them  up  the 
steep  incline  to  the  plateau  of  the  rock  ;  there  they 
carved  them,  and  then  lifted  them  thirty  or  forty  feet 
into  the  air  into  their  places.  In  a  few  years,  Plutarch 
tells  us,  the  Parthenon  was  completed  by  these  proc- 
esses, and  even  now  the  joinings  and  fittings  of  the 
stones,  the  accuracy  of  their  placement,   the  beams  of 


The  Life  of  the  Nation,  479-404  B.    C.        149 

twenty-five  feet  long  spanning  the  top  of  a  doorway  over 
the  supporting  pillars,  the  drums  of  pillars  set  upon 
drums,  with  the  fluting  so  fitted  that  the  joining  is  often 
not  even  visible,  the  figures  more  perfect  than  any  mod- 
ern can  design,  grouped  as  no  modern  can  group  them, 
set  by  way  of  mere  ornament  so  high  on  a  wall  that  their 
subtle  refinement  only  produces  a  general  effect — all  this 
wealth  of  knowledge,  this  lavishing  of  wealth,  this 
mutual  perfection  of  material  design  and  execution,  is 
such  that  the  longer  and  better  we  study  it,  the  greater 
and  more  superhuman  it  appears. 

In    art,    therefore,    we    may    maintain    without    the   preeminence  of 
smallest    fear  of   contradiction   that  the  modern  world   p^od  ?"  an 
with  all  its  inventions  has  not  even  approached  the  per-   and  llterature- 
fection    of   this   golden    age.       In   literature    also,    and 
perhaps  in  international  politics  and  diplomacy,  we  may 
hold  that  our  present  state  is  a  new  growth  from  the 
barbarism    of   the   dark   ages,    which    has   exceeded   in 
quantity,   but  not   in   quality,  what   the  Athenians  had 
attained. 

The  great  problem  how  far  those  who  have  voluntarily 
entered  into  a  confederacy,  and  prospered  as  members 
of  it,  are  entitled  in  future  time  to  withdraw  from  it,  and 
so  break  up  a  league  from  which  not  only  they  but  the 
other  members  are  deriving  great  benefit,  is  a  question 
constantly  before  the  Greek  politicians  in  this  and  the 
next  century.  The  instinct  of  the  predominant  partner 
was  to  hold  such  a  league  together  by  force,  and  to 
refuse  to  allow  allies  or  subjects  who  had  agreed  to 
certain  terms  any  liberty  in  rejecting  them.  This  is 
asserted  over  and  over  again  by  Athenians  and  others 
in  the  discussions  which  Thucydides  composes  for  them. 
On  the  other  hand,  there  was  a  strong  and  indelible  gjjJgFjy* 
instinct  of  autonomy,  or  the  claim  to  manage  their  own   tor  autonomy. 


150 


A  Survey  of  Greek   Civilization. 


Slavery  main 
cause  of  low 
standard  of 
morality. 


Callous  and 
brutal  attitude 
to  slaves  and 
prisoners. 


affairs,  in  all  the  Hellenic  polities,  however  small  ;  and 
this  was  the  feeling  which  made  an  attack  upon  any- 
such  empire,  or  more  properly,  hegemony,  of  Athenians, 
Spartans,  or  Thebans,  popular  in  Greece.  It  was  the 
very  same  problem  as  that  which  agitated  America  at 
the  opening  of  the  great  Civil  War  thirty  years  ago. 
Were  the  states  which  were  the  mothers  of  the  Union 
bound  forever  to  remain  in  that  Union,  even  if  what  they 
held  to  be  their  state  liberties  were  violated  ?  What- 
ever might  have  been  the  rights  of  those  states  which 
were  daughters  of  the  Union,  the  original  partners 
seemed  to  have  an  indefeasible  right  of  withdrawing,  if 
the  terms  of  the  original  contract  were  violated. 

Our  real  superiority  lies  in  our  moral  ideals,  in  our 
philanthropy,  our  care  of  the  poor  and  the  sick,  very 
probably  in  our  developed  notions  of  humanity.  I  do 
not  know  whether  the  existence  and  justification  of 
slavery  as  a  national  institution  are  not  the  main  cause 
of  this  difference.  In  all  slave-holding  societies  the 
feelings  of  the  slave  are  violated  by  the  will  or  the 
caprice  of  the  master.  Even  as  nowadays  men  will  not 
hesitate  to  sacrifice  domestic  animals  to  their  con- 
venience, so  will  they  sacrifice  their  slaves.  As  far  as 
securing  leisure  to  the  free,  as  far  as  saving  them  from 
drudgery,  slavery  generally  conduces  to  refinement  of 
manners  and  elegance  of  life  in  the  dominating  class. 
But  if  any  pressing  need  occurs,  the  lives  of  slaves  will 
be  sacrificed  without  scruple,  and  the  habit  of  so  doing 
cannot  but  react  upon  the  morals  of  the  masters,  and 
make  them  callous  in  other  cases  where  humanity  is 
involved.  This  we  see  in  the  best  and  foremost  Greek 
society  of  this  period.  How  many  slaves  were  sacrificed 
to  the  hurry  of  building  the  Parthenon  we  shall  never 
know.      In  the  silver  mines  of   Laurium  it  would  seem 


The  Life  of  the  Nation,  479-4.04  B.  C.         151 

that  two  years  was  the  average  life  of  a  workman.      But 

the  treatment  of  prisoners  is  constantly  stated   to  us.    Frequent  mas- 

1  J  sacres  of  male 

Very  frequently  the  adult  male  prisoners,  especially  if  prisoners, 
they  belonged  to  a  hated  rival  city,  were  massacred  in 
cold  blood,  nor  did  the  refinement  manifested  by  the 
companions  of  Pericles  and  Phidias  revolt  from  these 
butcheries.  The  women  and  children  were  made  slaves, 
and  if  not  ransomed,  became  the  chattels  of  the  victors. 
The  honor  of  a  woman  who  was  even  a  temporary 
prisoner  was  no  more  respected  than  her  purse,  nor  was 
such  a  misfortune,  which  often  happened,  considered  as 
in  any  way  ruining  her  reputation.  We  have  this 
indeed  explicitly  from  Xenophon,  a  generation  later 
than  that  now  under  consideration.  But  if  it  was  true 
then,  it  must  have  been  true  ten  times  more  in  the 
colder,  harsher,  and  more  selfish  society  of  Antiphon, 
Thucydides,  Alcibiades,  and  Lysander.  The  milk  of 
human  kindness  seems  to  have  run  dry  among  them. 
Even  in  the  Attic  comedy  of  the  day,  the  brilliant  and 
genial  Aristophanes  seldom  paints  this  feature. 

So  far,   then,  the  association   of   the  good  with  the  _.    ,      .., , 

&  The  beautiful 

beautiful  and  the   true  seems   incomplete.      The  latter  pot  necessarily 

1  identical  with 

two  are  attained  in  no  ordinary  degree.     The  former,    the  s°od  or 
which  is  to  us  the  most   divine  of  the  three,  was  but 
poorly  represented. 

The  whole  policy  of  Athens  as  drawn  by  its  great 
historian  Thucydides  is  as  repulsive  as  the  figures  of  the 
Olympian  gods  drawn  by  Homer.*  He  tells  us  in  a 
singular  passage  that  it  was  the  great  Peloponnesian 
War  which  ruined  the  public  morals  of  the  nation,  and 
though  this  statement  is  untrue,  for  we  know  of  the  same 
vices  rampant  at  earlier  epochs,  the  picture  he  draws 
offers  sc  curious  and  dark  a  shadow  to  the  brilliancy  of 

*  This  subject  is  treated  in  the  early  chapters  of  my  "  Social  Life  in  Greece." 


152 


A  Survey  of  Greek  Civilization. 


Disastrous 
effect  of  Pelo- 
ponnesian  War 
tm  Athenian 
morals. 


Description 
from  Thucydi- 
des  of  Greek 
avarice  and 
ambition. 


the  art  side  of  this  life  that  we  shall  do  well  to  quote  it. 

For  not  long  afterwards  the  whole  Hellenic  world  was  in 
commotion,  in  every  city  the  chiefs  of  the  democracy  and  of 
the  oligarchy  were  struggling,  the  one  to  bring  in  the  Athenians, 
the  other  the  Lacedaemonians.  Now,  in  time  of  peace,  men 
would  have  had  no  excuse  for  introducing  either,  and  no 
desire  to  do  so,  but  when  they  were  at  war  and  both  sides 
could  easily  obtain  allies  to  the  hurt  of  their  enemies  and  the 
advantage  of  themselves,  the  dissatisfied  party  were  only  too 
ready  to  invoke  foreign  aid.  And  revolution  brought  upon  the 
cities  of  Hellas  many  terrible  calamities,  such  as  have  been  and 
always  will  be  while  human  nature  remains  the  same,  but  which 
are  more  or  less  aggravated  and  differ  in  character  with  every 
new  combination  of  circumstances.  In  peace  and  prosperity 
both  states  and  individuals  are  actuated  by  higher  motives, 
because  they  do  not  fall  under  the  dominion  of  imperious 
necessities  ;  but  war,  which  takes  away  the  comfortable  pro- 
vision of  daily  life,  is  a  hard  master,  and  tends  to  assimilate 
men's  characters  to  their  conditions. 

When  troubles  had  once  begun  in  the  cities,  those  who 
followed  carried  the  revolutionary  spirit  further  and  further, 
and  determined  to  outdo  the  report  of  all  who  had  preceded 
them  by  the  ingenuity  of  their  enterprises  and  the  atrocity  of 
their  revenges.  The  meaning  of  words  had  no  longer  the 
same  relation  to  things,  but  was  changed  by  them  as  they 
thought  proper.  Reckless  daring  was  held  to  be  loyal  courage  ; 
prudent  delay  was  the  excuse  of  a  coward  ;  moderation  was 
the  disguise  of  unmanly  weakness  ;  to  know  everything  was 
to  do  nothing.  Frantic  energy  was  the  true  quality  of  a  man. 
A  conspirator  who  wanted  to  be  safe  was  a  recreant  in  disguise. 
The  lover  of  violence  was  always  trusted,  and  his  opponent 
suspected.  He  who  succeeded  in  a  plot  was  deemed  knowing, 
but  a  still  greater  master  in  craft  was  he  who  detected  one. 
On  the  other  hand,  he  who  plotted  from  the  first  to  have 
nothing  to  do  with  plots  was  a  breaker  up  of  parties  and  a 
poltroon  who  was  afraid  of  the  enemy.  In  a  word,  he  who 
could  outstrip  another  in  a  bad  action  was  applauded,  and  so 
was  he  who  encouraged  to  evil  one  who  had  no  idea  of  it.  The 
tie  of  party  was  stronger  than  the  tie  of  blood,  because  a 
partisan  was  more  ready  to  dare  without  asking  why.     (For 


The  Life  of  the  Nation,  4J9-4.04.  B.  C.        153 

party  associations  are  not  based  upon  any  established  law,  nor 
do  they  seek  the  public  good  ;  they  are  formed  in  defiance  of 
the  laws  and  from  self-interest.)  The  seal  of  good  faith  was 
not  divine  law,  but  fellowship  in  crime.  If  an  enemy  when  he 
was  in  the  ascendant  offered  fair  words,  the  opposite  party 
received  them  not  in  a  generous  spirit,  but  by  a  jealous  watch- 
fulness of  his  actions.  Revenge  was  dearer  than  self-preserva- 
tion. Any  agreements  sworn  to  by  either  party,  when  they 
could  do  nothing  else,  were  binding  as  long  as  both  were 
powerless.  But  he  who  on  a  favorable  opportunity  first  took 
courage  and  struck  at  his  enemy  when  he  saw  him  off  his 
guard,  had  greater  pleasure  in  a  perfidious  than  he  would  have 
had  in  an  open  act  of  revenge  ;  he  congratulated  himself  that 
he  had  taken  the  safer  course,  and  also  that  he  had  over- 
reached his  enemy  and  gained  the  prize  of  superior  ability. 
In  general,  the  dishonest  more  easily  gain  credit  for  cleverness 
than  the  simple  for  goodness — men  take  a  pride  in  the  one,  but 
are  ashamed  of  the  other. 

The  cause  of  all  these  evils  was  the  love  of  power,  origina-  The  evils  of 
ting  in  avarice  and  ambition,  and  the  party  spirit  which  is  Partv  spirit, 
engendered  by  them  when  men  are  fairly  embarked  in  a  con- 
test. For  the  leaders  on  either  side  used  specious  names,  the 
one  party  professing  to  uphold  the  constitutional  equality  of 
the  many,  the  other  the  wisdom  of  an  aristocracy,  while  they 
made  the  public  interests,  to  which  in  name  they  were  devoted, 
in  reality  their  prize.  Striving  in  every  way  to  overcome  each 
other,  they  committed  the  most  monstrous  crimes  ;  yet  even 
these  were  surpassed  by  the  magnitude  of  their  revenges, 
which  they  pursued  to  the  very  utmost,  neither  party  observing 
any  definite  limits  either  of  justice  or  public  expediency,  but 
both  alike  making  the  caprice  of  the  moment  their  law. 
Either  by  the  help  of  an  unrighteous  sentence,  or  grasping 
power  with  the  strong  hand,  they  were  eager  to  satiate  the 
impatience  of  party  spirit.  Neither  faction  cared  for  religion  ; 
but  any  fair  pretense  which  succeeded  in  effecting  some 
odious  purpose  was  greatly  lauded.  And  the  citizens  who 
were  of  neither  party  fell  a  prey  to  both  ;  either  they  were  dis- 
liked because  they  held  aloof,  or  men  were  jealous  of  their 
surviving. 

Thus  revolution  gave  birth  to  every  form  of  wickedness  in    Revolution  the 
...  .  cause  of  degen- 

Hellas.     The  simplicity  which  is  so  large  an  element  in  a  noble    eration. 


i54 


A  Survey  of  Greek  Civilization. 


The  brutal 
and  selfish 
foreign  policy 
of  Athens. 


Dialogue  from 
Thucydides. 


nature  was  laughed  to  scorn  and  disappeared.  An  attitude  of 
perfidious  antagonism  everywhere  prevailed  ;  for  there  was  no 
word  binding  enough  nor  oath  terrible  enough  to  reconcile 
enemies.  Each  man  was  strong  only  in  the  conviction  that 
nothing  was  secure  ;  he  must  look  to  his  own  safety,  and  could 
not  afford  to  trust  others.  Inferior  intellects  generally  suc- 
ceeded best.  For,  aware  of  their  own  deficiencies,  and  fearing 
the  capacity  of  their  opponents,  for  whom  they  were  no  match 
in  powers  of  speech,  and  whose  subtle  wits  were  likely  to 
anticipate  them  in  contriving  evil,  they  struck  boldly  and  at 
once.  But  the  cleverer  sort,  presuming  in  their  arrogance  that 
they  would  be  aware  in  time,  and  disdaining  to  act  when  they 
could  think,  were  taken  off  their  guard  and  easily  destroyed.* 

All  these  evils  are,  however,  set  forth  in  connection 
with  the  hideous  massacres  at  Corcyra,  an  outlying 
and  not  very  respectable  part  of  the  Greek  world. 
Thucydides  in  due  time  lets  us  know  that  as  far  as  prin- 
ciples went  the  Athenians  were  no  better.  He  has  put 
into  their  mouths  a  dialogue  with  the  Melians,  whose 
island  they  desired  to  take,  which  may  indeed  not 
be  historically  accurate — there  was  no  reporter  present 
to  take  it  down  and  bring  it  to  the  historian — but  which 
expresses  his  opinion  of  the  motives  which  led  to  the 
cruel  treatment  of  these  islanders.  There  is  no  more 
shocking  instance  of  cold-blooded  cynicism  in  all  Greek 
history. 

Athenians.  Well  then,  we  Athenians  will  use  no  fine  words  ; 
we  will  not  go  out  of  our  way  to  prove  at  length  that  we  have 
a  right  to  rule,  because  we  overthrew  the  Persians  ;  or  that  we 
attack  you  now  because  we  are  suffering  any  injury  at  your 
hands.  We  should  not  convince  you  if  we  did  ;  nor  must  you 
expect  to  convince  us  by  arguing  that,  although  a  colony  of  the 
Lacedaemonians,  you  have  taken  no  part  in  their  expeditions, 
or  that  you  have  never  done  us  any  wrong.  But  you  and  we 
should  say  what  we  really  think,  and  aim  only  at  what  is 
possible,    for  we   both   alike   know   that    into  the  discussion 


'Thucydides  III.,  Chaps.  LXXXH  -I. XXXIII.    Jowett. 


The  Life  of  the  Nation,  479-404  B.  C.         155 


Might  is  right. 


of  human  affairs  the  question  of  justice  only  enters  where  the 
pressure  of  necessity  is  equal,  and  that  the  powerful  exact  what 
they  can,  and  the  weak  grant  what  they  must. 

Melians.  Well  then,  since  you  set  aside  justice  and  invite 
us  to  speak  of  expediency,  in  our  judgment  it  is  certainly 
expedient  that  you  should  respect  a  principle  which  is  for 
the  common  good  ;  and  that  to  every  man  when  in  peril  a 
reasonable  claim  should  be  accounted  a  claim  of  right,  and  any 
plea  which  he  is  disposed  to  urge,  even  if  failing  of  the  point  a 
little,  should  help  his  cause.  Your  interest  in  this  principle 
is  quite  as  great  as  ours,  inasmuch  as  you,  if  you  fall,  will  incur 
the  heaviest  vengeance,  and  will  be  the  most  terrible  example 
to  mankind. 

Ath.  The  fall  of  our  empire,  if  it  should  fall,  is  not 
an  event  to  which  we  look  forward  with  dismay  ;  for  ruling 
states  such  as  Lacedcemon  are  not  cruel  to  their  vanquished 
enemies.  And  we  are  fighting  not  so  much  against  the  Lac- 
edaemonians, as  against  our  own  subjects  who  may  some  day 
rise  up  and  overcome  their  former  masters.  But  this  is  a 
danger  which  you  may  leave  to  us.  And  we  will  now  endeavor 
to  show  that  we  have  come  in  the  interests  of  our  empire,  and 
that  in  what  we  are  about  to  say  we  are  only  seeking  the 
preservation  of  your  city.  For  we  want  to  make  you  ours  with 
the  least  trouble  to  ourselves,  and  it  is  for  the  interests  of 
us  both  that  you  should  not  be  destroyed. 

Mel.  It  may  be  your  interest  to  be  our  masters,  but 
how  can  it  be  ours  to  be  your  slaves  ? 

Ath.  To  you  the  gain  will  be  that  by  submission  you  will 
avert  the  worst ;  and  we  shall  be  all  the  richer  for  your  preser- 
vation. 

Mel.     But  must  we  be  your  enemies  ?    Will  you  not  receive 

,     .,-  11  •  •.!  -,         Selfish  argu- 

us  as  friends  if  we  are  neutral  and  remain  at  peace  with  you  ?        mentsofthe 

Ath.  No,  your  enmity  is  not  half  so  mischievous  to  us  as 
your  friendship  ;  for  the  one  is  in  the  eyes  of  our  subjects  an 
argument  of  our  power,  the  other  of  our  weakness. 

Mel.  But  are  your  subjects  really  unable  to  distinguish  be- 
tween states  in  which  you  have  no  concern,  and  those  which 
are  chiefly  your  own  colonies,  and  in  some  cases  have  revolted 
and  been  subdued  by  you  ? 

Ath.  Why,  they  do  not  doubt  that  both  of  them  have 
a  good  deal  to  say  for  themselves  on   the  score   of  justice, 


Athenians. 


156  A  Survey  of  Greek  Civilization. 

but  they  think  that  states  like  yours  are  left  free  because 
they  are  able  to  defend  themselves  and  that  we  do  not  attack 
them  because  we  dare  not.  So  that  your  subjection  will  give 
us  an  increase  of  security,  as  well  as  an  extension  of  empire. 
For  we  are  masters  of  the  sea,  and  you  who  are  islanders,  and 
insignificant  islanders  too,  must  not  be  allowed  to  escape  us. 

Mel.  But  do  you  not  recognize  another  danger?  For, 
once  more,  since  you  drive  us  from  the  plea  of  justice  and 
press  upon  us  your  doctrine  of  expediency,  we  must  show 
you  what  is  for  our  interest,  and,  if  it  be  for  yours  also, 
may  hope  to  convince  you  :  Will  you  not  be  making  enemies  of 
all  who  are  now  neutrals  ?  When  they  see  how  you  are  treat- 
ing us  they  will  expect  you  some  day  to  turn  against  them  ;  and 
if  so,  are  you  not  strengthening  the  enemies  whom  you  already 
have,  and  bringing  upon  you  others  who,  if  they  could  help, 
would  never  dream  of  being  your  enemies  at  all  ? 

Ath.  We  do  not  consider  our  really  dangerous  enemies  to 
The  real  ^e   any  Qf  ^g  peoples   inhabiting  the  mainland  who,   secure 

enemies  of  ■>  r       r  |» 

Athens  are  the  in  their  freedom,  may  defer  indefinitely  any  measures  of 
precaution  which  they  take  against  us,  but  islanders  who,  like 
you,  happen  to  be  under  no  control,  and  all  who  may  be 
already  irritated  by  the  necessity  of  submission  to  our  empire — 
these  are  our  real  enemies,  for  they  are  the  most  reckless  and 
most  likely  to  bring  themselves  as  well  as  us  into  a  danger 
which  they  cannot  but  foresee. 

Mel.  Surely  then,  if  you  and  your  subjects  will  brave 
all  this  risk,  you  to  preserve  your  empire  and  they  to  be  quit  of 
it,  how  base  and  cowardly  would  it  be  in  us,  who  retain  our 
freedom,  not  to  do  and  suffer  anything  rather  than  be  your 
slaves. 

Ath.  Not  so,  if  you  calmly  reflect ;  for  you  are  not  fight- 
ing against  equals  to  whom  you  cannot  yield  without  disgrace, 
but  you  are  taking  counsel  whether  or  no  you  shall  resist 
an  overwhelming  force.  The  question  is  not  one  of  honor  but 
of  prudence.  * 

Historians  tell  us  that  Thucydides  was  a  tragedian  in 
view  of 'tneS  S  prose,  that  he  desired  to  expose  the  cruelty  and  selfish- 
AthenSian  lhe       ness  of  Athens  as  the  moral  cause  of  the  great  disaster 


downfall. 


•Thucydides  V.,  Chaps.  LXXXIX-CI.    Jowett. 


The  Life  of  the  Nation,  479-404  B.  C.         157 

in  Sicily,  which  occupies  his  succeeding  books.  There 
is  no  satisfactory  evidence  of  any  such  conception.  He 
seems  rather  to  hold  that  with  the  death  of  Pericles  all 
sound  imperial  policy  departed  from  Athens,  that  dema-  ™roira1ionSfor 
gogues  either  incompetent  or  corrupt,  or  both,  led  the  Pericles  as  a 
people,  and  made  those  grave  mistakes  which  caused 
the  really  superior  power  of  Athens,  based  on  money 
and  ships,  to  be  overthrown  by  Sparta.  As  misfortune 
would  have  it,  Sparta  did  not  win  under  the  chivalrous 
Brasidas,  or  the  noble  Callicratidas,  but  under  the  cruel 
and  selfish  Lysander,  whose  massacre  of  several  thou- 
sand prisoners  on  the  shore  of  the  Hellespont  after  the 
battle  of  ^Egospotami  is  one  of  the  most  horrible  facts 
in  Hellenic  life.  Even  the  Syracusans,  when  they  had 
conquered  with  great  difficulty  a  wanton  invasion  from 
Athens,  at  least  kept  their  many  prisoners  alive,  with  a 
possibility  of  ransom.  They  are  said  to  have  released 
those  who  were  able  to  recite  portions  of  the  plays 
of   Euripides*    the    rising   star    before   which    that   of   Popularity 

1  o  of  Euripides. 

^Eschylus   had    set,   and    even    that  of    Sophocles    had 
declined. 

In  the  middle  of  this  harsh  and  bitter  age,  when 
a  long  and  bloody  war,  which  might  well  be  called 
a  civil  war  in  character,  had  made  men's  tempers  as 
hard  as  their  circumstances,  when  all  the  finer  and  more 
delicate  feelings  seemed  to  be  swallowed  up  by  lust  of 
power,  revenge  for  wrongs,  ambition,  greed,  selfishness, 
there  were  at  least  two  men  standing  aloof  from  the  all- 
absorbing  politics  of  the  day,  and  teaching  each  in  their 
way  a  larger  faith  and  purer  morals.  These  were  Eurip- 
ides and  Socrates.  Both  found  it  necessary  to  break 
with    the  established  beliefs  in  religion,    because  they  andsocmes as 

,  11-1  1  r>     i.L  moral  teachers. 

were   inspired    to    preach    higher   morals.      Both    were 

*  This  is  the  frame  of  the  story  of  Browning's  "  Balaustion's  Adventure." 


158 


A  Survey  of  Greek  Civilization. 


Euripides  and 
Socrates  are 
attacked  as 
rationalists. 


Fragments  of 
Euripides 
in  Egypt. 


Reasons  for  his 
popularity. 


attacked  as  rationalists  who  undermined  faith,  and  with 
faith  morals.  Both  protested  that  they  only  criticised 
faith  so  far  as  it  was  absolutely  necessary  to  uphold 
morals.  The  poet  upon  his  stage,  painting  the  vices  of 
men  and  the  virtues  of  women,  the  passion  of  both, 
preached  a  larger  and  kindlier  estimate  of  human  nature 
than  the  hard  politicians  would  admit.  Humanity 
indeed  in  all  its  better  phases,  especially  the  loyalty 
and  nobility  of  the  poor  and  the  slave,  is  in  Euripides  a 
new  and  blessed  conception  amid  the  cruelties  and  the 
beauties  of  Attic  life.  His  many  innovations  were 
regarded  by  the  stricter  school  as  decadences,  his 
philosophy  as  out  of  place,  his  rehandling  of  sacred 
stories  as  irreligious  ;  but  Euripides  knew  better  than 
his  critics  ;  he  stood  at  the  close  of  an  epoch  brilliant 
indeed,  but  not  destined  to  last,  living  upon  an  energy 
impossible  to  sustain,  and  when  the  crash  came  he  sur- 
vived, the  poet  and  teacher  of  succeeding  centuries. 

When  we  now  rake  the  sands  of  Egypt,  and  find 
fragments  of  the  school-books,  or  the  popular  books 
which  the  Greeks  under  Alexander  carried  with  them  to 
their  new  homes,  we  find  fragments  of  Euripides  almost 
as  common  as  fragments  of  Homer,  which  was  then  the 
Greek  Bible,  whereas  those  of  ^Eschylus  or  Sophocles 
are  most  rare.  It  was  doubtless  on  account  of  his  cos- 
mopolitanism, his  greater  clearness,  his  simple  language, 
his  rather  Hellenic  than  Attic  spirit,  that  he  satisfied 
men  who  could  not  brook  the  pomp  of  ^Eschylus  or  the 
subtlety  of  Sophocles.  His  philosophy,  too,  a  gentle 
pessimism,  was  more  confined  to  the  days  of  Greek 
decadence,  when  the  extravagant  hopes  and  splendid 
performance  of  Periclean  Athens  were  things  of  the 
past.  Many  of  his  lyrical  passages,  too,  were  capable  of 
quite  general  application,  and  could  be  sung,  as  modern 


The  Life  of  the  Nation,   479-404  B.   C.         159 

lyrics   are,    apart   from    the    stage    and    its    accessories. 

Here,    for  example,    is  an  ode  translated  for  me  by   fj^Snof: 
Robert  Browning,    and   which    I   gladly   repeat    in  this   ^duedpidean 
place  : 

I. 

Oh  Love,  Love,  thou  that  from  the  eyes  diffusest 

Yearning,  and  on  the  soul  sweet  grace  inducest — 

Souls  against  whom  thy  hostile  march  is  made— 

Never  to  me  be  manifest  in  ire, 

Nor,  out  of  time  and  tune,  my  peace  invade  ! 

Since  neither  from  the  fire — 

No,  nor  the  stars— is  launched  a  bolt  more  mighty 

Than  that  of  Aphrodite' 

Hurled  from  the  hands  of  Love,  the  boy  with  Zeus  for  sire. 


Idly,  how  idly,  by  the  Alpheian  river 

And  in  the  Pythian  shrines  of  Phoebus,  quiver 

Blood-offerings  from  the  bull,  which  Hellas  heaps  : 

While  Love  we  worship  not — the  Lord  of  men  ! 

Worship  not  him,  the  very  key  who  keeps 

Of  Aphrodite^  when 

She  closes  up  her  dearest  chamber-portals  : 

Love,  when  he  comes  to  mortals, 

Wide-wasting,  through  those  deeps  of  woes  beyond  the  deep  ! 

This  great  poet  has  had  in  our  time  the  good  fortune   Browning>s 
to  fall  into  Browning's  hands,  and  two  plays  at  least,    Srijidls's 
with  many  fragments,  can  be  studied  better  than  other  Pla>'s- 
Greek  masterpieces  in  his  "  Balaustion's  Adventure" 
(the  "  Alcestis")  and  Aristophanes' s  "  Apology"  (the 
"  Mad  Heracles  ").     The  latter  version  is  far  the  more 
perfect,    for  he  has   here  rendered  the  lyrical  odes  in 
lyrical  meters,  whereas  in  the  ' '  Alcestis  ' '  he  has  given 
them  all  in  his  halting  blank  verse,  which  does  not  repre- 
sent the  variety  and  beauty  of  the  original  meters.      But 
both  are  the  work  of  a  poet  appreciating  a  poet,  and  as 


i6o 


A  Survey  of  Greek   Civilization. 


Socrates  as  a 
teacher  of 
morality. 


His  doctrine  of 
the  beauty  of 
goodness. 


such  have  but  few  rivals  among  our  Anglo-Greek  books. 

We  pass  on  to  the  other  capital  figure  in  Periclean 
Athens,  who  lived,  like  Euripides,  to  see  the  debacle,  but 
was  the  second  great  force  which  led  to  a  brilliant 
regeneration  in  the  succeeding  century.  If  Euripides 
was  a  rationalist,  how  much  more  was  Socrates  a 
rationalist  ;  if  Euripides,  amid  the  skepticism  which 
follows  upon  the  criticism  of  a  false  and  absurd  religion, 
was  still  a  serious  and  pious  man,  how  much  more  so 
was  Socrates.  He  set  himself  to  work  against  the  bril- 
liant superficial  teachers  of  practical  politics,  called 
"Sophists,"  who  trained  men  in  argument  but  not  in 
principles,  and  sought  in  debate  only  victory,  not  truth. 
But  to  Socrates  principle  was  everything.  He  knew  no 
fear,  he  recoiled  from  no  hardship,  he  was  tainted  with 
no  ambition ;  he  lived  and  died  for  his  convictions, 
preaching  that  truth,  and  the  clear  knowing  of  it,  was 
the  only  fit  occupation  of  men. 

But  in  him  the  beautiful  which  had  been  the  glory  of 
the  Periclean  age  gave  way  utterly  to  another  beauty, 
the  beauty  of  goodness.  He  found,  as  he  believed,  the 
real  nexus  between  those  great  ideas,  and  it  is  from  his 
time  onward  that  every  noble  thinker  has  essayed  to 
attain  them  in  his  conception  of  the  Deity.  It  was  said 
that  he  brought  down  philosophy  from  heaven  to  dwell 
among  men.  Perhaps  it  would  be  truer  to  say  that  he 
raised  man  from  the  earth  to  dwell  in  heaven.  Still 
more  true  was  it  that  he  brought  philosophy  from  Ionia, 
from  Sicily,  and  from  Magna  Graecia,  to  dwell  at 
Athens.  He  was  himself  no  ascetic  ;  he  did  not  eschew 
the  pleasures  of  the  body,  but  every  pleasure  and  every 
relaxation  he  subordinated  to  the  one  great  object,  to 
maintain  his  own  moral  dignity  and  purity,  and  to 
promote  these  same  virtues  among  others. 


The  Life  of  the  Nation,  479-404  B.C.         161 


It  wearies  the  modern  reader,  often  enough,  to  read 
how  he  endeavored  to  preach  his  great  doctrine.  He  sJ^™af  method 
cross-examined  those  whom  he  met,  beginning  from 
simple  and  perfectly  obvious  questions,  and  leading  up 
gradually  to  perplexities,  from  which  he  did  not  always 
show  an  escape.  The  reason  of  this  curious  and  often 
tedious  method  was  that  moral  obligations  in  his  day 
were  by  no  means  so  clearly  defined  as  they  now  are. 
There  was  nothing  comparable  to  the  teaching  of  Christ, 
upon  which  our  laws  and  our  religion  are  now  based. 
Concerning  many  vital  points  men  were  still  hesitating 
as  regards  their  moral  duty.  If  a  man's  father 
murdered  a  slave,  thus  exhibiting;  the  vice  of  cruelty,    M°ral  problems 

0  J        discussed  by 

was  the  son  bound  to  use  every  effort  to  bring  the  Socrates. 
murderer  under  the  cognizance  of  the  law,  or  was  he 
bound  to  refrain  on  the  ground  of  filial  piety — in  other 
words,  was  the  duty  of  a  son  to  his  father,  or  the  duty 
of  a  citizen  to  the  state  the  more  paramount  ?  Here  is 
one  of  the  many  problems  which  Socrates  raised  and 
discussed.*  He  desired  to  clear  the  moral  air,  to  re- 
move prejudices,  misconceptions,  vagueness,  and  make 
men  understand  clearly  that  the  highest  and  only  sure 
happiness  was  the  practice  of  virtue,  the  only  wisdom  to 
walk  according  to  the  direction  of  conscience.  He  left 
no  writings  behind  him;  he  was   put  to  death  by  the   The  alleged 

0  r  J  skepticism  of 

verdict  of  a  jury  of  his  countrymen,  who  believed  him  Socrates, 
to  have  raised  skeptical  doubts  in  the  minds  of  men. 
No  doubt  he  had.  So  did  Jesus  Christ  ;  so  did  Martin 
Luther  ;  so  did  John  Huss.  But  skeptical  doubts  about 
what  ?  about  errors  and  superstitions  which  had  laid 
firm  hold  on  the  minds  of  men,  and  required  a  mighty 
wizard  to  break  the  chain  of  their  enchantment. 

*  In  the  dialogue  called  "  Euthyphroti,"  which  proper  name  means  "the 
right-minded."  This  is  the  prose  analogon  to  the  problem  of  Orestes  and  of 
Hamlet  already  discussed  in  connection  with  yEschylus. 


162 


A  Stirvey  of  Greek   Civilization. 


Lesson  taught 
in  Soi  i  ates's 
life  and  death, 


Athenian  atti- 
tude to  death. 


Evidence  from 
tombstones. 


The  effect  of  this  upon  the  culture  of  Athens,  and 
through  his  pupils  upon  the  culture  of  many  Greek 
cities,  must  have  been  immense.  It  was  now  felt  that 
enlightenment  meant  not  cheap  skepticism,  but  deeper 
knowledge  ;  that  there  was  a  human  nature  deeper  and 
more  permanent  than  the  types  perpetuated  as  ideal  in 
the  poetry  and  mythology  of  the  ancients.  Not  Apollo, 
not  Athene,  had  the  dignity  and  the  strength  of  the 
human  sage.  His  very  death  was  a  greater  lesson  than 
his  life.  For  both  before  his  judges  and  before  his 
friends  he  maintained  clearly  that  after  this  life  a  good 
man  will  receive  either  the  reward  of  greater  happiness, 
or  the  eternal  sleep  of  annihilation.  In  no  case  will  his 
pains  and  imperfections  be  perpetuated.  And  if  there 
be  indeed  a  divine  spark  in  the  soul  of  man,  we  may 
hope  for  a  return  of  this  higher  element  to  its  home,  and 
a  future  blessedness  in  the  purity  of  eternal  light. 

The  deep  consolations  of  this  noble  teaching  cannot 
be  fully  appreciated  till  we  understand  the  popular  atti- 
tude toward  death  among  the  Athenians  of  his  day. 
We  have  not  indeed  the  complaints,  the  despair,  the 
gloom  of  the  average  people  recorded  in  any  book. 
But  there  still  remains  to  us  very  curious  evidence  in  the 
many  tombstones  with  sculptured  reliefs  which  are 
found  in  the  Ceramicus  at  the  west  end  of  Athens 
during  recent  years,  and  are  now  the  ornament  of  the 
Great  Museum. 

I  cannot  do  better  than  repeat  here  what  I  wrote 
years  ago,  when  first  I  was  brought  face  to  face  with 
these  curious  and  very  affecting  memorials  of  a  nation's 
grief. 

It  seems  to  me  that  the  tombs  before  us  are  remarkable  as 
exemplifying,  with  the  tact  of  genius,  this  true  and  perfect 
reserve.     They  are  simple  pictures  of  the  grief  of  parting — of 


The  Life  of  the  Nation,  479-404  B.   C.         163 

the  recollection  of  pleasant  days  of  love  and  friendship— of  the 

gloom  of  the  unknown  future.     But  there  is  no  exaggeration,    The  idealism 

nor  speciality— no    individuality,    I    had    almost    said— in   the    sepukhral  art. 

picture.     I  feel  no  curiosity  to  inquire  who  these  people  are— 

what  were  their  names — even  what  was  the  relationship  of  the 

deceased.     For  I  am  perfectly  satisfied  with  an  ideal  portrait  of 

the  grief  of  parting — a  grief  that  comes  to  us   all,  and  lays 

bitter  hold  of  us  at  some  season  of  life  ;  and  it  is  this  universal 

sorrow — this  great  common  plan  in  our  lives — which  the  Greek 

artist  has  brought  before  us,  and  which  calls  forth  our  deepest 

sympathy.     There  will  be  further  occasion  to  come  back  upon 

this  all-important  feature  in  connection  with  the  action  in  Greek 

sculpture,  and  even  with  the  draping  of  their  statues — in  all 

of  which  the  calm  and  chaste  reserve  of  the  better  Greek  art 

contrasts  strangely  with  the  Michael  Angelos  and  Berninis  and 

Canovas  of  other  days  ;  nay,  even  with  the  Greek  sculpture  of 

a  no  less  brilliant  but  less  refined  age. 

But  in  concluding  this  digression  I  will  call  attention  to  a 
modern  parallel  in  the  portraiture  of  grief,  and  of  grief  at  final  pa°ai7e"  font's0 
parting.  This  parallel  is  not  a  piece  of  sculpture,  but  a  poem,  universality, 
perhaps  the  most  remarkable  poem  of  our  generation — the  "  In 
Memoriam  "  of  Lord  Tennyson  Though  written  from  per- 
sonal feeling,  and  to  commemorate  a  special  person — Arthur 
Hallam — whom  some  of  us  even  knew,  has  this  poem  laid  hold 
of  the  imagination  of  men  strongly  and  lastingly  owing  to  the 
poet's  special  loss  ?  Certainly  not.  I  do  not  even  think  that 
this  great  dirge — this  magnificent  funeral  poem — has  excited  in 
most  of  us  any  strong  interest  in  Arthur  Hallam.  In  fact,  any  Ti"n^se°"^ 
other  friend  of  the  poet's  would  have  suited  the  general  reader  riam." 
equally  well  as  the  exciting  cause  of  a  poem,  which  we  delight 
in,  because  it  puts  into  great  words  the  ever-recurring  and 
permanent  features  in  such  grief— those  dark  longings  about 
the  future  ;  those  suggestions  of  despair,  of  discontent  with  the 
providence  of  the  world,  of  wild  speculation  about  its  laws  ; 
those  struggles  to  reconcile  our  own  loss,  and  that  of  the 
human  race,  with  some  larger  law  of  wisdom  and  of  benevo- 
lence. To  the  poet,  of  course,  his  own  particular  friend  was 
the  great  center  point  of  the  whole.  But  to  us,  in  reading  it, 
there  is  a  wide  distinction  between  the  personal  passages — I 
mean  those  which  give  family  details  and  special  circumstances 
in  Hallam's  life,  or  his  intimacy  with  the  poet — and  the  purely 


164 


A  Survey  of  Greek  Civilization. 


The  "In 
Memoriam 
deals  with 
universal 
world- 
problems. 


Socrates's 
teaching 
thai  death 
has  no  terrors 
for  the  good. 


poetical  or  artistic  passages,  which  soar  away  into  a  region  far 
above  all  special  detail,  and  sing  of  the  great  gloom  which 
hangs  over  the  future,  and  of  the  vehement  beating  of  the 
human  soul  against  the  bars  of  its  prison  house,  when  one  is 
taken,  and  another  left,  not  merely  at  apparent  random,  but 
with  apparent  injustice  and  damage  to  mankind.  Hence  every 
man  in  grief  for  a  lost  friend  will  read  the  poem  to  his  great 
comfort,  and  will  then  only  see  clearly  what  it  means  ;  and  he 
will  find  it  speak  to  him  specially  and  particularly,  not  in  its 
personal  passages,  but  in  its  general  features  ;  in  its  hard  meta- 
physics ;  in  its  mystical  theology  ;  in  its  angry  and  uncertain 
ethics.  For  even  the  commonest  mind  is  forced  by  grief  out 
of  its  commonness,  and  attacks  the  world-problems,  which  at 
other  times  it  has  no  power  or  taste  to  approach.* 

It  is  indeed  certain  that  many  of  them  date  from  the 
succeeding  generations  ;  but  the  type  was  created  at 
the  moment  when  sculptors  had  vanquished  all  their 
difficulties,  and  felt  themselves  perfectly  able  to  give 
expression  to  the  emotions  in  unfeeling  marble.  When 
once  established,  the  type  of  this  work  continued 
unvaried  in  sentiment,  while  the  higher  minds  were  find- 
ing higher  consolations  and  better  memorials  to  record 
their  impressions  of  death  and  of  bereavement.  It  was 
the  utter  sadness  of  men  without  hope,  the  dreary  future 
in  the  meadow  of  asphodel,  which  Socrates  and  his 
followers  combated,  showing  that  while  a  good  life  was 
an  end  in  itself,  not  cut  short  but  completed  by  a  death 
of  calmness  and  resignation,  the  future  life  could  bring 
no  terrors  to  the  righteous,  even  if  it  were  not  a  crown 
and  culmination  to  their  yet  imperfect  happiness. 


*"  Rambles  and  Studies  in  Greece,"  pages  74-5  (4th  edition). 


CHAPTER  VI. 

THE    FOURTH    CENTURY    B.    C. 

We  pass  to  the  culture  of  the  succeeding  century, 
when,  with  the  fall  of  Athenian  pride,  the  age  of  poetry 
was  gone,  the  chain  of  great  tragic  poets  was  broken, 
the  piety  of  the  choral  ode  antiquated  ;  when  philosophy 
and  oratory  aided  history  to  establish  new  models  in 
literature,  and  create  in  Greek  prose  a  standard  not  less 
perfect  and  many-sided  than  that  attained  in  earlier 
days  by   Greek    poetry.      At    the  very  opening  of  this     . 

J         J  r  j  r  o  Literature  after 

century,  the  moment  of  the  Restoration  (of  the  democ-   the  fail  of 

J  ...       the  Athenian 

racy)  at  Athens,  we  have  the  pupils  of  Socrates  in  phi-  Empire, 
losophy,  the  pupils  of  Antiphon  in  oratory,  the  pupils, 
or  successors,  of  Thucydides  in  history,  all  vying  with 
each  other  to  make  each  branch  of  their  art  perfect 
in  its  way.  No  doubt  the  failure  of  the  Athenian  Em- 
pire and  the  consequent  greater  equality  among  Greek 
cities  also  gave  a  more  cosmopolitan  tone  to  this 
prose  epoch.  Xenophon  is  a  regular  man  of  the  world, 
living,  from  choice  or  necessity,  most  of  his  life  abroad. 
Plato  was  not  like  Socrates,  addicted  to  Athens  ;  it  is 
the  orators  only  who  preserve  the  strict  traditions  of 
Attic  life,  and  write  for  the  Attic  public.  But  let  us 
turn  for  a  moment  to  the  only  form  of  poetry  that 
still  flourished — comedy. 

The  comedy  of  Aristophanes  and  his  rivals  shows  the   L   ic  poetry  of 
jocose  and  ribald  side  of  the  most  brilliant  Periclean  life.    Aristophanes. 
Beautiful  hymns  or  odes,  perfect  in  grace  and  refined  in 

165 


1 66  A  Survey  of  Greek   Civilization. 


diction,  alternate  with  scurrilous  lampoons  and  violent 
Translation  of     political   attacks.      The  following  ode  will  illustrate  his 

an  ode  of  r 

Aristophanes.        lyric  poetry  \ 

ODE  OF  THE  HOOPOE  TO  THE  NIGHTINGALE.* 

Sister  warbler,  cease  from  slumber, 
Pour  thy  holiest  sweetest  number  ; 
With  thy  heavenly  voice  bewail 
Thy  own  sad  Itys'  tearful  tale  ; 
Gushing  forth  the  liquid  note 
Copious  through  thy  yellow  throat. 
Clear  and  full  the  holy  sound 
Through  the  full-leaved  ivy  round 
Soars  away  to  Jove's  high  hall  ; 
Gold-haired  Phcebus  hears  the  call, 
Hears  and  answers  back  again, 
Mournful  to  the  mournful  strain. 
He  with  ivory-gleaming  lyre 
Wakens  all  the  immortal  choir. 
All  the  everlasting  throng 
Take  up  the  song  ; 
The  voices  of  the  blest  the  full  accord  prolong. 

What  has  been  already  said  about  the  rest  of  Peri- 
"pJridean         clean  life  is  here  also  exemplified.      Goodness  as  such 
plays  but  a  small    part    in    the   poet's   scenes.      If    he 
preaches  honesty  and  truth  against  chicanery  and  self- 
ishness, it  is  for  the  good  of  the  state,  for  the  political 
salvation    of    Athens,    not  because    these    qualities  are 
in    themselves    honorable    and    of    good    report.       His 
famous  attack  on  Socrates  (in  the  "Clouds")  is  a  mis- 
conservatismof  representation    as    gross    as    any    ever    perpetrated    in 
Anstophanes.      American  politics.       He  could  only  have  defended  it  by 
its  political  expediency.      He  belonged  to  the  old  Con- 
servative party,  to  whom  this  shaking  of  received  truths, 
of  traditional  dogmas,  was  connected  with  radical  poli- 

*  A  translation  of  one  of  Aristophanes's  lyrics.     Milman,  page  222. 


The  Fourth   Century  B.    C. 


167 


tics,  and  with  the  rise  of  new  ideas  in  morals  and 
religion.  Most  of  the  dangerous  young  men  at  Athens, 
notably  the  ringleader  of  the  Thirty  Tyrants,  Critias, 
were  followers  of  the  sage.  This  feature  was  enough  in 
Aristophanes' s  mind  to  justify  a  wicked  and  false  satire 
upon  a  great  and  good  man. 

It  was  this  want  of  moral  earnestness,  as  well  as 
the  local  flavor  of  his  plays,  which  made  them  distasteful   Reasons  for  the 

.  change  of  spirit 

to  the  public,  as  soon  as  the  circumstances  which  ex-  of  comedy  after 
plained  their  allusions  and  the  political  struggles  which 
palliated  their  injustices  had  been  forgotten.  The  tamer 
and  better  age  of  the  Restoration  required  milder  spirit- 
ual food,  greater  moral  earnestness,  and  so,  while  the 
teaching  of  the  virtues  passed  into  the  hands  of  philoso- 
phers and  rhetoricians,  the  so-called  Middle  Comedy,  to 
which  Aristophanes' s  latest  play,  the  "Plutus,"  ap- 
proximates, adopted  a  very  different,  and  a  more  culti- 
vated tone.  Classes  of  men  and  not  individuals  were 
criticised,  literary  and  social  ideals,  not  practical  politics, 
were  discussed  ;  and  although  it  may  be  seen  that  now 
and  then,  even  in  the  hands  of  the  very  latest  of  the 
comic  poets,  personal  lampoons  were  launched  at  the 
audience  from  the  stage,  the  whole  tone  and  temper 
show  that  license  and  scurrility  were  no  longer  thought 
amusing  or  in  good  taste.  This  is  what  we  should 
expect  from  the  age  of  Xenophon  and  Plato,  Lysias  and 
I socrates. 

The  Spartans  were  now  masters  of  the  political  world, 
and  though  all  the  theorists,  as  well  as  practical  men 
like  Xenophon,  were  dazzled  with  the  tenacious  and 
consistent  method  of  life,  which  had  attained  the  suprem- 
acy over  brilliant  Athens,  the  Spartans  as  a  domi- 
nating society  bore  the  test  of  prosperity  and  power 
very  badly. 


Sparta  fails  to 
bear  the  test 
of  prosperity. 


1 68 


A  Survey  of  Greek  Civilization. 


tan  Xenophon. 


His  sketch 

of  Socrates. 


Of  Cvrus. 


The  only  writer  who  went  about  all  over  the  Greek 

[he writings. of  world  and  saw  the  ways  and  manners  of  men,  the  Ulys- 
the  1 1  ismopoli-  •'  ■* 

ses  of  the  fourth  century  B.  C,  was  Xenophon,  who  has 
given  us  in  his  various  writings  his  various  ideals,  such 
as  they  were  successively  presented  to  him.  First 
comes  Socrates  the  Athenian,  whose  "Memoirs"  give 
us  a  picture  of  the  man  more  realistic  and  possibly  more 
true*  than  the  dialogues  of  Plato.  Then  he  comes  into 
contact  with  the  younger  Cyrus,  a  great  Persian  prince, 
whose  splendor  and  dignity,  vastly  beyond  that  of  any 
Greek,  so  dazzle  him  that  he  paints  the  ideal  monarch 
in  his  "  Education  of  Cyrus."  He  removes  his  picture 
into  the  days  of  the  older  and  greater  king  of  the  name  ; 
but  it  is  quite  certain  that  it  was  the  brilliant,  chivalrous 
prince  under  whom  he  fought  at  Cunaxa  that  suggested 
the  work.  Later  in  life  he  came  within  reach  of  the 
Spartan  king  Agesilaus,  a  man  of  considerable  ability 
and  long  experience,  but  rather  representing  the  aver- 
age Spartan  virtues  than  possessing  any  genius  of 
his  own.  This  man  also  becomes  an  ideal  figure  to 
Xenophon,  who  gives  us  through  him  a  glance  at 
the  best  sort  of  life  in  the  leading  city  of  Greece.  These 
three  figures,  with  their  strong  contrasts,  their  wide 
difference  of  surroundings,  their  totally  distinct  ideals  of 
life  and  of  morals,  are  the  most  remarkable  legacy  which 
this  great  writer  has  left  us.  His  greatest  blot  is  to  have 
obscured  for  us,  so  far  as  he  could,  the  majestic  per- 
sonality of  the  Theban  Epaminondas,  his  greatest  foible 
to  have  exaggerated  his  own  importance  as  a  military 
commander  and  a  man  of  action.  But  here  too  lies  his 
most  brilliant  literary  success.      His  account  of  the  ex- 


Of  Agesilaus. 


His  failure  to 

appreciate 

Epaminondas 


♦The  Socrates  who  appeared  in  the  streets,  and  was  known  to  the  public 
as  a  quaint  figure  with  peculiar  views — this  outside  Socrates  is  what  we  find 
in  Xenophon.  The  ideal  man,  with  his  deep  suggestions,  even  with  the  seed 
of  his  doctrine  sown  and  bearing  fruit,  is  what  we  find  in  Plato. 


The  Fotirth   Century  B.    C. 


169 


pedition  to  Babylonia,  with  the  much  more  famous  "  Re- 
treat of  the  Ten  Thousand ' '  narrated  in  the  third  per- 
son, has  taken  in  the  learned  as  well  as  the  unlearned, 
and  caused  them  to  place  this  condottiere*  who  never 
attained  a  high  reputation  in  Greece,  among  the  great 
commanders  whose  talents  were  not  mistaken  for  a 
moment. 

But  this  is  not  the  place  to  discuss  such  questions,  f  I 
would  rather  seek  from  the  confessions  of  this  remark- 
able man  what  he  at  least  had  attained  in  culture, 
and  what  he  thought  praiseworthy  in  the  life  of  others. 

It  is  very  remarkable  how  little  his  early  intercourse 
with  Socrates  affected  him.  He  was  an  ambitious  young 
man,  seeking  distinction  and  not  finding  scope  for  it 
in  the  now  humbled  and  impoverished  Athens.  More- 
over, he  was  not  a  good  citizen,  and  very  soon  broke  al- 
together with  Athens,  from  which  he  was  ultimately 
banished.  So,  like  his  ancestors  and  successors,  he 
took  to  the  profession  of  mercenary  soldier.  If  Cyrus 
had  not  been  killed  at  Cunaxa,  Xenophon  would  have 
attained  to  high  office  in  the  East,  and  might  have 
given  us  most  curious  knowledge  concerning  the  life  and 
manners  of  the  Persian  notables.  But  even  as  it  was,  he 
found  that  the  so-called  barbarians  were  in  their  nobler 
specimens  not  a  whit  inferior  to  the  most  polished 
Greeks,  nay,  rather,  in  splendor  of  ideas  and  richness  of 
life  far  superior  to  anything  that  Greece  could  produce. 
The  portrait  of  Cyrus  in  the  "Anabasis,"  and  that  of 
his  ancestor  in  the  Educational  Romance,  show  us  that 
Xenophon  found  among  the  Persians  his  ideal  of  a  great 
sovereign,  nor  can  there  be  any  more  curious  compari- 


The  "Retreat 
of  the  Ten 
Thousand." 


The  checkered 
career  of 
Xenophon. 


Xenophon's 
ideal  of  a  great 
sovereign  de- 
rived from  the 
Persians. 


*  I  use  this  word  as  familiar  to  us  from  medieval  Italian  history. 

1 1  have  done  so  in  the  chapter  on  Xenophon  in  my  "  History  of  Greek  Lit- 
erature." 


l7° 


A  Survey  of  Greek  Civilization. 


Nobility  of 
Persian  life  and 
character. 


The  style  of 
Xenophon. 


His  dislike  of 
Thebes. 


son  than  that  of  Aristotle's  picture  of  the  "  great-souled 
man' '  or  ideal  Greek,  in  the  fourth  book  of  his  ' '  Ethics, ' ' 
with  the  picture  of  the  elder  Cyrus  in  "  Cyropaedia. " 
Greatness  seems  to  sit  artificially  on  Aristotle's  man  ; 
"his  voice  must  be  deep,  and  his  step  slow,"  as  if 
he  were  posing  as  a  hero  to  his  valet  ;  greatness  is 
traditional  and  natural  to  the  Persian,  with  a  chivalry 
and  a  generosity  quite  foreign  to  Greek  ideas.  It  was 
not  till  Macedonian  feudalism  was  combined  with  Greek 
culture  that  we  have  such  a  figure  as  that  of  Alexander, 
who  at  once  feels  that  in  Persia  is  the  ideal  of  a 
sovereign  and  who  treated  the  great  oriental  barons 
as  we  see  depicted  on  the  matchless  sarcophagus  of 
Sidon.  In  sport,  in  war,  in  courtesy,  they  are  the  full 
equals  of  Macedonians  and  Hellenes. 

By  these  experiences  Xenophon  became  cosmopolitan, 
and  shook  off  the  narrowness  and  the  conceit  which  still 
hung  about  Attic  life.  His  very  style  proves  it.  He 
admits  many  words  foreign  to  Attic  use,  and  approaches 
the  "common  dialect,"  which  in  the  next  century 
leavened  all  the  Hellenistic  world.  But  as  far  as  his 
own  century  was  concerned,  he  seems  to  have  thought 
that  nothing  was  so  noble  as  Spartan  simplicity,  nothing 
so  expedient  as  Spartan  discipline. 

The  upstart  power  of  Thebes  he  evidently  regarded 
with  a  strong  dislike — Athens  I  know,  and  Sparta  I 
know,  but  who  are  ye  ?  And  yet,  in  the  midst  of  the 
rudeness  and  revelry  attributed  to  the  Boeotians  sprang 
up  a  small  society  of  men,  led  by  the  greatest  genius  of 
his  century,  and  moreover  a  man  as  great  in  his  refine- 
ment as  in  his  military  science.  Before  this  personage 
the  star  of  Agesilaus,  Xenophon' s  hero,  paled  its 
ineffectual  fire  ;  the  hope  of  the  Spartan  to  follow  the 
footsteps    of   Xenophon' s   mercenaries,   and   conquer  a 


The  Fourth  Century  B.    C.  171 


kingdom  in  Asia,  gave  way  to  a  hopeless  effort  to  hold 

the  control  of   Greece    against  the    power   of    Epami-   xlnopWs 

nondas  ;    and    so  Xenophon,   whose  great   hopes   must  retirement. 

always  have  lain  in  the  direction  of  campaigns  in  Asia, 

was    balked   by  the  home  complications,   in    which  he 

could  take  no   leading  part.      It   remained  for  him  to 

retire   to   his  hunting-box   in   the  wilds  of   Elis,  not  far 

from  the  Epsom  of  Greece,  where  he  could  meet  all  his 

scattered  friends  at  the  Olympic  festival,   and  here  he 

devoted   himself  to  the  amusements  he  had  learned  to 

love    in   Asia — hunting,    training   of   horses    and   dogs, 

farming,   and    with    these    a    prolonged    and    eminent 

literary  activity. 

But  are  the  ideals  in  these  books  those  derived  from 
Socrates?  Far  from  it.  Xenophon' s  religion  is  dis- 
tinctly a  bargain,  a  compact  with  the  gods,  as  received 
by  the  vulgar  public.  If  he  offers  them  liberal  sacrifices, 
they  are  bound  on  their  side  to  secure  him  prosperity. 
Piety  for  its  own  sake  seems  strange  to  him.  It  is  the 
same  thing  with  domestic  virtues.  The  young  wife, 
whose  education  after  her  marriage  is  so  graphically 
described  in  his  "  Giconomicus,"  is  trained  that  she  may  xenophon's 
be  useful,  and  conduce  to  the  peace  and  happiness  of  icus?""0 
her  husband,  not  that  she  may  become  in  herself  a 
nobler  and  better  soul.  Even  then,  as  now,  the  fashion- 
able young  woman  thought  that  yellow  hair,  rouge  upon 
the  face,  and  high-heeled  shoes  were  requisite  for  the 
attainment  of  beauty — a  theory  which  this  model 
husband  combats  with  arguments  which  seem  ineffectual 
in  the  present  day.  Very  sympathetic  to  us  is  his  love 
of  horses  and  of  sport.  He  felt  in  his  day  the  impor- 
tance of  cavalry,  which  the  Greeks  had  neglected  for 
want  of  means  and  for  want  of  open  country.  But  now 
that  wars   might  any  day   be  transferred  to   Asia,   the 


172  A  Survey  of  Greek  Civilization. 


importance  of  cavalry  was  increased,  and  in  the  brilliant 
campaign  of  Agesilaus,  nothing  had  been  more  decisive 
than  his  creation  of  a  cavalry  force,  to  meet  the  Persian 
His  love  of  satraps  in  the  plains  of  Lydia.  Xenophon's  hunting 
was  his  great  amusement,  and  he  throws  into  it  that 
seriousness  and  zeal  which  every  sportsman  from  that 
day  to  this  has  manifested.  He  writes  his  tract  on  hunt- 
ing the  hare— a  sport  which  he  thinks  more  delightful 
than  anything  else  in  the  world.  When  a  man  sees  the 
dogs  tracking,  finding,  coursing  the  animal,  "he  will 
forget  that  he  ever  loved  anything  else."  How  like  the 
fox  hunter  of  to-day  !  And  as  regards  seriousness,  he 
brought  his  practical  piety  into  this  important  pursuit. 
When  the  hare's  track  is  found,  "having  prayed  to 
Apollo  and  to  Artemis,  let  loose  your  best  dog."  This 
was  the  kind  of  life  impossible  in  the  thickly  populated 
Attica  ;  it  had  been  one  great  cause  of  the  vigor  and  the 
health  of  the  Spartan  youth.  Xenophon  felt  as  we  do, 
that  it  produces  not  only  physically,  but  morally,  a  type 
of  man  vastly  superior  to  the  athlete  or  the  runner  in 
competitive  encounters.  The  Greeks  were,  on  the 
whole,  worse  off  than  the  English  for  field  sports  and 
Lack  of  field  exercises.  Rowing,  which  is  so  prominent  among  us, 
Greece'"  was    chiefly    the    work    of   slaves,    and    though    in    the 

Athenian  navy  the  upper  row  of  the  trireme  seems  to 
have  been  worked  by  citizens,  it  was  never  the  occupa- 
tion of  a  gentleman,  and  the  competitions  of  this  kind 
which  they  had  were  rather  between  the  rich  men  who 
manned  and  equipped  ships  for  the  state  than  for  the 
crew.  Fishing  was  always  the  occupation  of  the  poor, 
nor  do  I  suppose  that  Pelopidas  or  Epaminondas  ever 
dreamt  of  going  out  in  a  boat  to  sport  on  the  lake 
Copais,  which  occupies  a  large  part  of  Bceotia,  and  was 
alwavs    celebrated    for   its    fish.      Training   for   athletic 


The  Fourth   Century  B.    C.  173 


the  Boeotian. 


sports  is  a  different  kind  of  thing,  and  military  leaders 
seem  to  have  decided  from  early  times  that  it  was  not 
serviceable  for  good  soldiering. 

On  the  whole,  therefore,  Xenophon,  starting,  with  an  xenophon's 

.    ,  .  .1  appreciation  of 

experience  of  Athens,  seems  to  have  come  to  the  con-  spartan  ideals, 
elusion  that  the  Spartan  ideal  of  manhood,  tempered 
with  some  additional  education,  was  better  than  the 
exclusively  town  life  of  his  native  country.  And  so  he 
approaches  more  nearly  to  the  modern  idea  of  a  gentle- 
man than  the  greatest  of  the  Athenians. 

We  wish  we  could  speak  in  this  connection  of  Epam-  Epaminondas 
inondas  and  the  Theban  society  which  he  led  during 
his  brilliant  life,  for  here  were  combined  some  of  the  con- 
ditions of  both  Attic  and  Spartan  life.  The  Boeotians 
belie,  by  the  series  of  great  men  they  produced  from 
Hesiod  to  Plutarch,  that  they  were  the  heavy  and  stupid 
population  at  whom  the  Attic  peasant  jeered  as  Boeotian 
swine.  The  culture  of  Pindar,  of  Pelopidas,  of  Plutarch 
is  beyond  question.  But  in  Epaminondas  we  have  be- 
sides this  a  splendid  moral  nature,  and  a  genius  for  war 
such  as  had  never  yet  been  known  in  Greece.  Both  in 
strategy  and  in  tactics  he  was  unequalled.  His  first  His  genius 
great  victory,  at  Leuctra,  was  won  by  bringing  a  deep 
column  to  bear  upon  a  point  of  the  enemy's  line,  while 
the  rest  of  it  was  kept  in  check  by  a  demonstration 
rather  than  an  attack.  He  solved,  therefore,  the  great 
secret  of  winning  a  battle  by  bringing  a  superior  force  to 
bear  upon  an  inferior,  though  the  armies  were  equal  in 
number.  His  strategy  he  showed  over  and  over  again 
by  taking  his  army  with  perfect  ease  through  the  diffi- 
cult passes  near  the  Isthmus  of  Corinth  into  the  Pelo- 
ponnesus, though  his  enemies  knew  his  intention  and 
did  all  they  could  to  block  and  defend  these  passes. 
Moreover,  it  was  he  that  restored  Messene  to  life,  and 


for  war. 


'74 


A  Survey  of  Greek   Civilization. 


Description 
of  Arcadia. 


first  brought  Arcadia  as  a  political  force  into  Greek 
history. 

The  configuration  of  Arcadia  is  so  interesting,  and  the 
genius  of  Epaminondas  in  founding  Megalopolis  so  often 
misunderstood,  that  I  shall  quote  what  I  wrote  about  it, 
after  carefully  exploring  the  whole  province. 

But  let  us  turn  from  this  poetical  and  imaginary  country  to 
the  real  land — from  Arcadia  to  Arcadia,  as  it  is  called  by  the 
real  inhabitants.  As  everybody  knows,  this  Arcadia  is  the  al- 
pine center  of  the  Morea,  bristling  with  mountain  chains,  which 
reach  their  highest  points  in  the  great  bar  of  Erymanthus,  to 
the  northwest,  in  the  lonely  peak  of  "  Cyllene  hoar"  to  the 
northeast,  in  the  less  conspicuous,  but  far  more  sacred  Lykaeon 
to  the  southwest,  and  finally,  in  the  serrated  Taygetus  to  the 
southeast.  These  four  are  the  angles,  as  it  were,  of  a  quadri- 
lateral enclosing  Arcadia.  Yet  these  are  but  the  greatest 
among  chains  of  great  mountains,  which  seem  to  traverse  the 
country  in  all  directions,  and  are  not  easily  distinguished,  or 
separated  into  any  connected  system.  They  are  nevertheless 
interrupted,  as  we  found,  by  two  fine  oval  plains — both  stretch- 
ing north  and  south,  both  surrounded  with  a  beautiful  pano- 
rama of  mountains,  and  both,  of  course,  the  seats  of  the  old 
culture,  such  as  it  was,  in  Arcadia.  That  which  is  southerly 
and  westerly,  and  from  which  the  rivers  still  flow  into  the 
Alpheus  and  the  western  sea,  is  guarded  at  its  south  end  by- 
Megalopolis.  That  which  is  more  east,  which  is  higher  in  level, 
and  separated  from  the  former  by  the  bleak  bar  of  Maenalus,  is 
the  plain  of  Mantinea  and  Tegea,  now  represented  by  the  im- 
portant town  of  Tripolitza.  These  two  parallel  plains  give 
some  plan  and  system  to  the  confusion  of  mountains  which 
cover  the  ordinary  maps  of  Arcadia.* 

The  general  effect   of   the   collapse   of   the   Spartan 
on  Athens  of  the   domination,    of   the  rise  of  Thebes,   and  consequently 

rise  of  Thebes.  ,      .  .    .  ,     ,     .  .  . 

of  the  partial  recovery  of  Athens,  must  have  been  most 
beneficial  in  bringing  these  separate  civilizations  into 
contact,  far  more  than  had  been  hitherto  the  case,  and 

*  "  Rambles  and  Studies  in  Greece."  pages  317-1S  (4th  edition). 


The  Fourth  Century  B.    C.  175 

so  creating  a  broader  and  more  universal  type  of  Hel- 
lenic culture.  States  learned  to  pass  from  one  alliance 
to  another,  according  as  the  balance  of  power  required 
it,  and  became  friends  of  their  previous  enemies.  Em- 
bassies went  to  and  fro  from  city  to  city,  and  learned  to 
know  that  their  neighbors  were  better  at  home  than 
they  had  imagined.  The  treatment  of  resident  aliens 
was  sure  to  be  modified  by  this  more  constant  communi- 
cation, for  many  strangers  came  and  went,  and  they  fre- 
quently saw  their  own  countrymen,  who  could  report 
concerning  their  welfare. 

And  yet  it  is  wonderful  how  distinct   all    the    cities 
remained.      Thebes  rose  and  fell,  Sparta  rose  and  fell  in   Greece  do  not 

.  .  .  .  .  . .     .  .   ,      assimilate. 

this  century,  and  yet  to  its  very  end  we  can  distinguish 
no  large  approximation,  no  attempt  at  fusion  in  their 
respective  characteristics.  Athens  recovered,  and  learned 
the  lesson  that  a  democracy  with  a  sea  power  is  not 
a  match  for  an  army  of  yeomen,  but  though  every 
Athenian  philosopher  makes  his  ideal  state  more  like 
the  Spartan  than  his  own,  there  is  neither  desire  nor  at- 
tempt to  assimilate  the  habits  of  Athens  to  those  of 
Sparta. 

In  philosophy,  indeed,  and  in  oratory,  Athens  still 
kept  far  in  the  van,  and  though  her  great  literary  men  Athens  still 
were  seldom  her  great  citizens,  she  gave  in  this  century  philosophy 
two  figures  to  the  world  that  will  keep  her  glory  alive 
forever.  And  each  of  them  was  only  the  best  of  a 
galaxy  of  able  and  brilliant  rivals.  But  in  this  general 
sketch  I  can  only  deal  with  the  most  prominent  figures  ; 
to  attempt  more  would  be  so  to  crowd  the  canvas 
that  nothing  but  confusion  would  result.  The  first 
of  these  figures  is  Plato,  the  second  is  Demosthenes. 

There  is  no  Greek  figure  better  known  to  the  world 
than  that  of  Plato,  though  he  conceals  himself  behind 


and  oratory. 


176  A  Survey  of  Greek   Civilization. 


his  master  Socrates,  and  gives  us  his  views  not  in  philo- 
sophical essays  but  in  dramatic  dialogue  ;    and  if   any 
Greek    author    ever   received  adequate  treatment  in  a 
Plato's  foreign  tongue,  Plato  has  received  it  in  the  magnificent 

translation  of  Jowett,  who  has  prefaced  each  dialogue 
with  a  masterly  essay,  gathering  up  the  points  scattered 
through  a  sometimes  too  expanded  conversation.  If 
the  reader  desires  a  closer  and  deeper  acquaintance 
with  the  philosophy  preached  in  these  dialogues,  he  can 
find  it  in  many  learned  books,  notably  in  that  famous 
book  of  Grote,  "Plato  and  the  Other  Companions  of 
Socrates,"  wherein  the  great  historian  has  shown  the 
absolute  fairness  and  thoroughness  with  which  he  could 
discuss  a  system  totally  opposed  to  his  own  thinking. 
^  One  thing  he  was  the  first  to  prove.  Each  of  these  dia- 
logues stands  independent  of  the  rest ;  it  is  not  written  as 
part  of  a  harmonious  system  ;  it  often  arrives  at  conclu- 
sions apparently,  or  even  really,  inconsistent  with  other 
dialogues;  it  represents  a  search  after  a  special  truth,  con- 
ducted with  earnestness,  and  not  careful  whether  the 
conclusion  harmonizes  with  the  rest,  or  even  whether 
there  be  any  positive  conclusion  at  all.  There  is  this 
inconsistency  in  all  serious  human  philosophy  ;  necessity 
and  free  will,  election  and  virtue,  law  and  the  violation 
of  law,  all  appear  in  their  turn  complete  explanations  of 
His  method  of  ^e-  an^  attempts  at  a  theoretical  compromise  only  lead  to 
argument.  inconsistency  and  confusion.      Plato  preferred  to  carry 

out  each  discussion  to  its  natural  conclusion,  taking  up 
different  lines  of  argument  at  different  times,  and  show- 
ing how  earlier  teachers,  Gorgias,  Protagoras,  Parmeni- 
des,  had  defended  their  tenets,  and  how  far  each  of 
them  had  constructed  a  reasonable,  though  perhaps  not 
an  adequate  theory. 

What  concerns  us  here,   however,  is  not  the  deeper 


The  Fourth   Century  B.    C.  177 

side,  but  the  kind  of  society  which  meets  us  in  his  Attic 

scenes  of  life.      It  may  fairly  be  said  that  though  there   Reflection  in 

..     .,  ,  Plato  of  Athe- 

are  not  wanting  ribald  scenes,  or  expressions  of  a  pas-   »>an  refinement 

.  _.     .      .  .  and  intellectu- 

sion  foreign  to  Christian  morals,  no  society  is  more  aiity. 
refined,  perhaps  none  so  intellectual,  as  that  which 
occupies  his  canvas.  There  are  indeed  some  forward 
men,  who  urge  brutal  arguments.  Thrasymachus  at  the 
opening  of  the  "  Republic  "  is  such  a  character  ;  in  the 
"Symposium"  Alcibiades  comes  in  as  a  drunken 
reveller,  telling  experiences  which  had  far  better  be 
cloaked  in  silence. 

But  all  this  is  to  show  the  power  of  the  great  moral 
teaching  of  Socrates,  who  either  by  irony,  by  acuteness,  influence  of 
or  by  self-control,  subdues  or  silences  these  inferior  audience, 
exhibitions  of  human  passion  or  human  selfishness. 
The  young  men  of  his  dialogues  have  a  maidenly  charm 
about  them,  which  makes  them  most  attractive  ;  the 
elder  men,  not  including  the  great  master,  have  the  high 
qualities  of  truthfulness  and  the  keen  desire  of  knowl- 
edge. Very  few  women  appear  ;  that  is  still  the  weak  — 
point  in  Attic  society.  Aspasia  is  represented  as  an 
intellectual  and  interesting  person,  the  wife  of  Socrates 
as  merely  a  person  who  is  in  the  way  when  the  real  crisis 
of  his  life  arrives.  There  is,  moreover,  a  large  public 
that  takes  no  interest  in  this  select  circle,  nay,  rather,  is 
opposed  to  it,  as  aristocratic  and  devoting  to  abstract 
studies  the  time  which  others  devote  to  daily  work  or 
advancement  in  politics. 

The  society  in  which  Plato  moved  reminds  one  of  that  pa?aUe"  to  the 
now  existing  in  America,   which  is  too  aristocratic  and   Ifoofoeisof 
too  dignified  to  enter  the  turmoil  and  the  fever  of  public   Frielfds"'1  h's 
life,  and  which  so  abhors  dishonesty  and  selfishness  in 
the  democratic  politician  that  it  prefers  to  abandon  its 
legitimate  influence  rather  than  contribute  what  it  might 


178 


A  Survey  of  Greek   Civilization. 


and  political 
ideals 


to  make  the  public  character  of  its  nation  more  honest 
and  more  respected.  These  people,  like  the  Socratic 
set,  are  in  some  sense  bad  citizens,  but  they  are  never- 
theless socially  the  best  and  most  interesting  of  their 
day,  and  in  private  life  at  least  their  influence  radiates  to 
their  neighbors  and  keeps  up  an  ideal  of  honor  and 
refinement. 
Plato's  public  ^e  see  m    P^ato   a    gradually    increasing   alienation 

with  his 'TociaP'  ^rom  ms  a£e  >  n^s  theories  were  no  doubt  visionary  and 
distasteful  to  the  vulgar  public  ;  we  can  imagine  how  his 
theory  of  state  selection  of  husbands  and  wives,  and  as  a 
consequence  temporary  marriages,  must  have  jarred 
upon  the  respectable  Athenian  householder. 

His  views  upon  the  emancipation  of  women,  wherein 
he  was  as  modern  as  the  most  advanced  nineteenth- 
century  American,  had  already  been  ridiculed  with 
relentless  severity  by  Aristophanes  in  two  of  his  plays, 
which  are  now  hardly  fit  to  quote.  There  must  there- 
fore have  been  a  movement  in  this  direction  too  in  the 
early  part  of  Plato's  life,  and  the  rights  of  women  were 
being  advocated  by  others  besides  this  great  authority. 
But  unfortunately  Aristophanes' s  satire  stands  alone  on 
the  other  side  ;  and  we  do  not  know  who  the  earlier 
advocates  of  the  equalization  of  the  sexes  may  have 
been.  Plato  led  the  way  for  other  ' '  ideal ' '  systems,  in 
which  the  sentimentalities  of  marriage  were  cast  aside  as 
unworthy,  in  comparison  with  the  duty  of  producing  a 
healthier  race,  and  of  bringing  up  children  free  from  the 
indulgences  and  partialities  of  inefficient  parents.*     But 

*  I  would  not  have  it  thought  that  I  stand  in  this  matter  with  the  vulgar  pub- 
lic, or  that  I  do  not  think  the  proposed  reform  of  Plato  with  regard  to 
marriage  of  the  greatest  importance.  The  human  race  will  never  improve  as 
it  ought  till  the  physical  conditions  of  the  production  of  children  are  made  a 
matter  of  scientific  inquiry,  till  diseased  or  morally  worthless  persons,  if 
shown  to  be  unsuitable  parents,  are  forbidden  to  undertake  this  all-important 
function  ;  till  the  march  of  public  opinion  makes  it  less  repugnant  to  have  the 
conditions  of  parentage  analyzed,  and  the  secrets  of  domestic  life  scrutinized, 
than  to  allow  the  breeding  of  the  most  important  of  all  animals  to  be  carried 


His  views  of 
women  and 
marriage. 


The  Fourth   Century  B.C.  179 

all  these  schemes  foundered   against  the  rocks  of  tradi- 
tion, perhaps  against  even  that  of  common  sense.      And 
so  we  have  a  sad  picture  of  the  "  Attic  Moses,"  as  he 
was  called  in  subsequent  centuries,  sinking  into  a  des-   His  sense  of 
pondent  and  even  querulous  old  age. 

But  with  all  this  strange  modernness,  Plato  is  a  Hellene  of 
the  Hellenes.  His  prospect  does  not  include  any  non-Hellenic 
races.  Though  he  acknowledges  the  culture  and  the  learning 
of  the  Egyptians,  and  borrows,  or  effects  to  borrow,  splendid 
myths  from  other  barbarians,  the  fusion  of  the  Jew  and  Greek, 
of  bond  and  free — the  Hellenism  of  a  later  age — is  far  beyond 
his  vision.  He  shares  with  Isocrates  the  old — I  had  well  nigh 
said  the  vulgar — Greek  admiration  for  the  most  retrograde  and 
narrow  of  the  Hellenes,  the  Spartans  ;  nay,  he  is  so  exclusive 
and  aristocratic  in  spirit  that  he  will  hardly  condescend  to  con- 
sider the  lower  classes,  and  conceives,  like  every  other  Greek 
of  that  day,  even  his  ideal  society  to  be  a  select  body  of  equals 
amid  a  crowd  of  unprivileged  inferiors  and  of  slaves.  This  it 
is  which  gives  to  Plato's  communism  a  character  so  radically 
distinct  from  all  the  modern  dreams  known  by  the  same  name, 
or  from  the  early  Christian  society  described  in  the  Acts  of  the  piato's  exclu- 
Apostles.  It  was  essentially  an  aristocratic  communism,  and  slve  Hel,enism' 
was  based  not  on  the  equality  of  men,  but  upon  their  inherent 
and  radical  disparity.  It  was  really  the  republic  of  the  select 
few,  exercising  a  strict  and  even  intolerable  despotism  over  the 
masses.  Here  again,  in  spite  of  the  modernness  of  the  Socratic 
conception  of  the  philosopher  as  a  privileged  dissentient,  of 
the  rights  and  the  dignity  of  the  individual  and  his  conscience 
— here  again  Plato  falls  into  the  purest  fourth-century  Hellene- 
dom,  when  he  constructs  an  ideal  state,  or  a  code  of  laws,  in 
which  this  dissentient  can  be  allowed  no  place.  To  protect 
such  an  individual,  with  all  his  nobility,  and  his  inestimable 
good  effects  on  those  around  him,  the  actual  Athens  of  Plato's 

on  at  mere  random,  while  that  of  the  rest,  which  are  as  nothing  compared  to 
it,  is  carefully  guarded  and  directed.  It  will  no  doubt  be  necessary  to 
run  counter  to  much  of  the  present  sentiment  on  these  matters,  but  surely  if 
the  most  sensitive  people  nowadays  will  undergo  the  most  extreme  violations 
of  delicacy  in  order  to  have  children,  is  it  not  absurd  that  they  should  refuse 
to  undergo  any  sacrifice  of  sentiment  in  order  to  have  healthy  or  talented 
children?  Genius  now  appears  sporadically,  and  apparently  from  ordinary 
parents.  If  we  once  knew  the  law  of  its  production,  even  approximately, 
what  strides  in  advance  the  human  race  might  make  1 


i8o 


A  Survey  of  Greek   Civilization. 


The  gloom  of 
his  later  years. 


Plato's  poetical 
style  suited  to 
the  form  of  his 
writings. 


Influence  of 
Homer  on 
Plato. 


day,  as  Mr.  Grote  says,  was  a  far  safer,  happier,  and  better 
abode.  There  democratic  habits  and  common  sense  had 
modified  and  softened  those  theories  of  state  interference, 
which  no  individual  thinker  of  that  age  seems  able  to  shake  off. 

All  these  profound  contradictions  were  doubtless  the  cause  of 
that  increasing  gloom  and  morbidness  which  seem  to  have 
clouded  Plato's  later  years.  He  did  not  believe  in  the  perfecti- 
bility of  the  human  race.  Even  his  ideal  polity,  if  carried  into 
practice,  is  declared  by  him  to  contain  the  seeds  of  a  necessary 
decay.  The  human  race  was  not  advancing,  but  decaying. 
Dialectic  and  free  thought  led  to  skepticism  ;  acquiescence  in 
received  ideas  to  ignorance  and  mental  apathy.  We  may 
almost  infer  from  the  silence  of  contemporary  history-  concern- 
ing his  later  years  that,  beyond  his  immediate  disciples,  he  was 
neglected  and  regarded  as  an  idle  dreamer.  Yet  if  this  was  so 
he  but  verified  his  own  prophecies  on  the  social  position  of  the 
true  philosopher. 

In  his  style  he  is  as  modern  as  in  his  thinking.  He  employed 
that  mixture  of  sober  prose  argument  and  of  poetical  metaphor 
which  is  usual  in  the  ornate  prose  of  modern  Europe,  but 
foreign  to  the  character  and  stricter  art  of  the  Greeks.  This 
style,  which  is  freely  censured  by  Greek  critics  as  a  hybrid  or 
bastard  prose,  was  admirably  suited  to  a  lively  conversation, 
where  a  sustained  and  equable  tone  would  have  been  a 
mistake.  But  when  Plato  attempts  formal  rhetoric,  as  in  the 
reply  to  Lysias  in  the  "  Phaedrus,"  or  in  the  "  Menexenus,"  we 
find  how  true  was  the  artistic  feeling  of  the  Greek  schools,  and 
how  this  greater  genius,  with  its  irregularities,  falls  below  the 
more  chastened  and  strictly  formal  essays  of  professional  orators. 
He  is  said  in  his  youth  to  have  inclined  to  dramatic  poetry,  but 
his  aversion  to  dramatizing  passion  was  so  ingrained,  and  his 
love  of  analyzing  the  play  of  intellect  so  intense,  that  we  may 
imagine  him  producing  very  dry  and  unpopular  tragedies.  Yet 
his  appreciation  of  the  great  poets,  though  his  criticisms  of 
them  are  always  moral,  and  never  cesthetic,  was  certainly 
thorough,  and  told  upon  his  style.  Above  all,  he  shows  a 
stronger  Homeric  flavor  than  all  those  who  professed  to  wor- 
ship the  epics  which  he  censured.  His  language  everywhere 
bears  the  influence  of  Homer,  just  as  some  of  our  greatest  and 
purest  writers  use,  unconsciously,  biblical  phrases  and  meta- 
phors.    It  is  also  very  r  -markable  that  he  is  not  only  the  first 


The  Fourth   Century  B.    C.  181 


Greek  author  who  confines  the  name  of  Homer  to  the  Iliad 
and  Odyssey,  but  that  the  text  he  used  was  apparently  that 
established  afterwards  by  Aristarchus  against  the  inferior  and 
faulty  copies  used  by  Aristotle  and  later  critics.  The  effects 
of  the  rhetoric  of  his  rival  Isocrates  are  also  to  be  remarked  in 
him,  though  he  seems  never  to  have  adopted  with  any  strict- 
ness that  avoidance  of  hiatus  which  is  a  distinctive  mark  of 
Isocratic  prose.  Hence  we  see  in  Plato  the  child  of  his  age 
and  yet  its  leader,  the  most  Attic  of  Athenians  and  yet  a 
disaffected  citizen,  a  profound  skeptic  and  yet  a  lofty  preacher, 
an  enemy  of  the  poets  and  yet  a  rhapsodist  himself,  a  thinker 
that  despaired  of  his  own  people  and  yet,  aloft  on  his  Pisgah 
of  speculation,  looking  out  with  prophetic  eye  upon  a  far  future 
of  better  laws,  purer  religion,  and  nobler  life.* 

The  outlook  in  politics  was   indeed  gloomy  enough.    Political  dan- 
Though  culture  was  spreading  through  a  larger  area,    Ifiltuaij^aious- 
though  the  kings  of  Cyprus  and  the  dwellers  in  the  cities   cities  an? 
of  the  Crimea  were  now  cultivated  Greeks,  and  though    eagues- 
various  disciples  of  Socrates  had  carried  philosophy  to 
various  centers,  where  there  may  have  been  hitherto  but 
little   higher  speculation  ;    it   was  very   plain    that    the 
mutual  jealousies  of  Sparta,  Thebes,  Argos,  Athens,  and 
the  nascent  leagues  of  smaller  cities  presented  no  other 
prospect  but  one  of  continual  and  exhausting  hostilities. 
What  could  be  done  to  bring  the  Hellenic  race  together 
and  cause  them  to  forget  their  petty  quarrels  and  jeal- 
ousies in  the  face  of  some  grander  and  nobler  prospect  ? 

This  was  the  political  mission  of  Isocrates,  whom  I  Isocrates. 
may  here  put  between  the  two  prime  figures  of  the  cen- 
tury at  Athens,  and  who  sought,  as  Epaminondas  did 
by  his  strategy,  so  by  his  eloquence  to  bring  the  Greeks 
to  their  senses,  and  make  them  unite  under  some  recog- 
nized leader  to  conquer  the  East  and  its  enormous  ma- 
terial resources.  This  writer  felt  clearly  enough  that  it 
was  only  under  the  pressure  or  the  excitement  of  a  for- 

*  "  Historv  of  Greek  Literature,"  Mahaffy,  pages  438-9. 


1 82  A  Survey  of  Greek   Civilization. 


eign     war    that    the    Greeks    had    even    approximately 
united.      He  felt  most  strongly  the  superiority  of  Hel- 
lenic over  barbaric  civilization — a  superiority  which  he 
The  political       attributed  rather  to  culture  than  to  race.      He  hoped  at 

mission  of  .    . 

isocrates.  one  time  that  he  could  induce  Sparta  and  Athens  to  join 

together  as  in  the  days  of  Xerxes,  and  lead  the  com- 
bined nation.  But  he  had  no  nobler  object  before  him 
than  to  humble  the  barbarians,  now  profiting  by  Greek 
dissension,  and  to  provide  for  the  unceasing  discontent 
and  poverty  of  Hellas  a  great  material  increase  of 
wealth.  In  those  days  conquest  was  regarded  a  per- 
fectly legitimate  way  of  obtaining  power.  It  never  oc- 
curred to  him  that  the  Persian  king  had  as  good  a  right 
to  his  kingdom  as  Sparta  had  to  its  supremacy  in 
Greece.  He  hoped  to  combine  his  countrymen  under 
that  easiest  of  all  bonds  to  forge,  but  the  easiest  also  to 
break,  that  of  common  greed  and  common  plunder. 
This  policy  and  various  essays  upon  the  refinement 

literary  style.  0f  Attic  civilization  were  set  forth  in  periods  which  for 
perfect  rhythm  and  easy  flow  had  never  been  equalled 
hitherto.  The  most  perfect  master  of  prose  as  prose 
had  arisen,  the  master  whom  our  Milton  in  vain  at- 
tempted to  rival  in  his  ponderous  and  clumsy  ' '  Areopa- 
gitica."  But  the  smooth  flow  of  Isocrates' s  periods,  the 
long  roll  of  his  sentences,  were  to  him  a  greater  object 
than  his  policy.  It  was  felt  that,  like  the  rhetorical  his- 
torians whom  he  fashioned,  the  way  of  saying  things  was 
to  him  far  more  important  than  the  things  said,  to  be 
convicted  of  a  solecism  worse  than  to  be  charged  with  a 
crime.  Hence  this  famous  man's  fame  rests  upon  his 
style  alone,  and  we  may  dismiss  him  with  the  mere  note 
that  he  attained  to  the  utmost  perfection  of  literary  elo- 
quence. 

But  even  he  saw,  toward  the  close  of  his  life,  that  the 


The  Fourth   Ceutu/y  B.    C.  183 


mutual  jealousies  of  two  nearly  equal  powers  would  never 
permit  them  to  be  joint  leaders  in  the  great  enterprise  of 
regenerating  the  Greeks  by  foreign  conquest,  and  he 
saw  rising  in  the  North  a  new  and  fresh  power,  near 
enough  to  Hellenic  life  for  the  purpose,  which  might 
undertake  the  task.      His  open  letter  to  Philip  of  Mace-   Letter  of  isoc- 

rates  to  Philip 

don  abandons  his  former  scheme,  and  calls  upon  this  ofMacedon. 
able  and  ambitious  monarch  to  stay  further  oppression 
and  conquest  of  the  Greeks,  and  turn  to  lead  them 
against  their  hereditary  enemy  in  the  East.  He  had 
gradually  come  to  feel  that  the  rule  of  one  man  promised 
better  results  than  democracy  ;  he  had  been  ready  to 
advise  the  tyrant  of  Cyprus  how  he  might  consolidate 
and  secure  his  kingdom  by  justice  and  moderation. 
This  very  exhortation  proves  how  much  the  horror  of 

.  .     .  c       1         tt    11       •  1  The  horror  of 

monarchy  was  dying  out  of   the  Hellenic    race  ;    how   monarchy 
often  has  that  been  the  case,  when  people  feel  weary  of  the  Hellenic 
discussion,  of  changes  of  policy,  of  uncertainty  ?     Politi- 
cal discussion  had  become  less  interesting  in  many  ways, 
literary  and  social  questions   obtained  predominance   in 
many  minds  ;  and  both  art  and  elegance  of  life  seemed 
to  have  increased  with  poverty  and  the  decrease   of  the 
means  to  satisfy  them.      If  we  turn  to  the  indications 
which  remain  to  us  of  art,  we  may  say  that  from  the  do- 
mestic point  of  view  it  was  developing,   while  from  the 
public  and  religious  point  of  view  it  was  rather  verging 
to  decline.     There  was  not  only  art  on   a  smaller  scale,    Development 
but  the  skilled  mechanic  was  working  in   clay  figures  to   smanernscaie. 
adorn   the  private  house   as    the  sculptor  adorned  the 
public  building.      Painters  also  had  become  many  and 
celebrated,  not  only  Zeuxis  and  Parrhasius,  who  painted 
for  king  and  state,   but  lesser  men,  who  painted  little 
pictures  for  the  pleasure  of  small  people.* 

*  This  is  what  Isocrates  implies  in  his  speech  on  "  Exchange  of  Property,"  §2. 


1 84 


A  Survey  of  Greek   Civilization. 


Rotundas 
at  end  of  this 
period. 


Scopas  and 
Praxiteles. 


Tlie  "  Hermes 
of  Olympia." 


Personification 
in  the  art  of 
Si  opas  and 
Praxiteles. 


From  the  end  of  the  period  before  us,  just  at  the  end  of 
Philip's  reign,  date  at  Athens  and  at  Olympia  those  grace- 
ful rotundas,  meant  to  celebrate  victories,  which  show- 
how  the  taste  for  the  grandeur  of  the  Periclean  age  had 
gone  by,  or  else  the  means  to  satisfy  it  no  longer  existed. 

But  we  know  that  in  Scopas  and  Praxiteles  this  cen- 
tury could  show  artists  not  to  be  equalled  in  any  but  the 
previous  century.  We  only  know  of  Scopas  through 
some  fragments  of  the  great  Temple  of  Athena  Alca, 
near  Tegea  in  Arcadia,  which  has  recently  been  found, 
and  through  Roman  copies  of  his  sea  gods.  Praxiteles 
we  long  knew  only  from  copies  of  his  Niobe  and  his 
fauns,  till  the  excavations  at  Olympia  brought  to  light 
the  marvelous  Hermes,  in  the  very  spot  where  the 
traveler  Pausanias  had  seen  and  mentioned  it  (150 
A.  D. ),  which  may  now  be  called  the  most  perfect  relic  - 
of  sculpture  in  the  world.  What  is  most  intensely 
Greek  about  these  sculptors  is  their  idea  of  personifying 
nature,  and  not  only  representing  a  mountain  or  a  river 
by  its  tributary  god,  but  even  the  emotions  suggested 
by  nature,  in  the  expression  of  these  figures. 

To  Scopas  was  due  the  fixing  of  the  general  type  for  the 
great  company  of  gods  and  nymphs  which  inhabited  seas  and 
rivers — matted  locks  of  dripping  hair,  and  a  longing  melan- 
choly of  expression,  in  which  the  restless  moaning  of  the 
troubled  sea  finds  its  plastic  utterance.  To  Praxiteles  was  due 
the  analogous  type  for  the  forest  gods — the  fauns  and  satyrs, 
which,  with  their  gnarled  and  knotty  joints,  and  roughness  of 
skin,  image  even  more  clearly  the  sylvan  forms  which  the 
superstitious  traveler  saw  with  terror  in  the  fantastic  stems  of 
aged  trees.  Nay,  even  in  his  ideal  Faun — a  creature  of  perfect 
beauty — the  listening  attitude,  the  Pandean  pipe,  the  indefinable 
suggestion  of  wantonness,  and  of  mystery,  speak  a  deeper  feel- 
ing for  the  beauty  of  forest  life  than  could  be  conveyed  by  any 
ordinary  landscape  painting.* 

*  "  Social  Life  in  Greece,"  page  483  (7th  edition  I. 


The  Fourth   Century  B.  C.  185 

While  I  am  speaking  on  the  question  of  art  at  this 
period,  it  may  be  well  to  add  something  more  concern-  J|J™-™tta 
ing  the  graceful  and  delicate  art  of  the  coroplathos,  or 
maker  of  terra-cotta  figures,  many  of  which  have  been 
found  in  many  parts  of  Greece,  and  though  the  actual 
figures  we  possess  are  undated,  and  possibly  of  a  later 
generation,  there  is  no  doubt  that  from  Plato's  allusions 
the  craft  existed  in  his  day. 

Nothing  we  have  yet  found  is  more  important  than 
these  figurines  in  showing  us  the  difference  between  the 
ideal  and  the  real  in  Greek  life.  We  were  accustomed 
to  imagine  the  Hellenes  of  the  last  epoch  something  like 
the  fascinating  youths  and  maidens,  the  hale  old  men  on 
the  frieze  of  the  Parthenon.  But  now  we  know  that 
though  full  of  erace  and  refinement,  both  the  costume  Their  modern 

o  o  ;  air. 

and  style  of  men  and  women  in  ordinary  life  were  very 
different.  The  head-dress,  the  muffling  of  the  figure, 
the  gay  colors,  are  all  so  modern  in  their  air,  that 
we  feel  a  strange  approachment  to  them,  they  seem 
to  us  possibly  of  our  own  flesh  and  blood,  we  might  ex- 
pect them  to  open  their  mouths  and  speak  to  us. 

For  what  purpose  were  all  these  figurines,  hailing  from 
Tanagra,  Myrina,  Tralles,  Ialysos,  Cyrene,  put  into  the 
cemeteries,  where  we  have  found  them  ?  Many  of  them 
were  children's  toys,  put  with  their  owners  by  mourning 
parents  into  their  bitter  tomb.  One  series  from  Myrina 
seems   to   imitate   the   pediment  of  a  temple,    and   can   Our  ignorance 

,,.,,,  of  their  use. 

hardly  have  been  a  set  of  children  s  toys  ;  some  were 
perhaps  intended  as  charms,  or  as  ornaments  of  the 
house.  Strange  to  say,  though  we  know  of  the  craft, 
we  have  not,  so  far  as  I  know,  a  single  ancient  descrip- 
tion of  their  use  ;  there  is  never  a  name  to  tell  us 
whom  they  represent ;  there  is  nothing  for  us  but  con- 
jecture  upon    so    important    and   widespread  a  feature 


The  Fourth    Century  D.   C.  187 

in  the  ordinary  Greek  house.  This  is  a  warning  to  us, 
how  little  we  know  about  the  trifles  of  their  life,  and  how 
cautious  we  must  be  in  drawing  conclusions  from  the 
silence  of  our  authorities  upon  other  points. 

The  private  life,  therefore,  of  this  epoch,  so  far  as  we 
know   it,  was  more  comfortable  and   elegant  than   that   increase  of 

°  ,        mercenary 

which  preceded  it,  while  it  was  on  the  whole  less  bril-  Greek  soldiers, 
liant  in  literature  and  in  politics.  It  also  appears  from 
the  rapid  increase  of  the  profession  of  mercenary  sol- 
diers, specially  noted  by  Isocrates,  that  there  was  an  in- 
creasing class  of  adventurous  paupers,  ready  to  put  their 
swords  at  anybody's  service,  and  also  an  increasing 
class  of  comfortable  citizens,  devoted  to  business  of  vari- 
ous kinds,  who  would  not  take  the  field  in  person  with- 
out the  direst  necessity,  and  were  satisfied  to  employ  not 
only  mercenary  soldiers,  but  a  mercenary  general,  to 
fight  their  battles  for  them. 

When  this  state  of  things  was  once  recognized,  it  was 

....  Consequent 

perfectly  plain  that  the  power  of  the  purse  was  likely  to  danger  from 
make  any  state  supreme.  If  the  Persian  king  could  pay 
Greeks  to  fight  against  other  mercenary  Greeks,  instead 
of  the  old  citizen  armies  which  had  resisted  him  at 
Thermopylae  and  Plataea,  how  easy  was  his  problem 
to  solve  !  Had  the  younger  Cyrus  not  been  killed  at 
Cunaxa,  it  is  more  than  probable  that  he  would  have  ac- 
complished what  his  ancestors  failed  to  do,  unless  indeed 
the  combined  Greeks  had  done  what  they  never  did  be- 
fore, put  the  Theban  Epaminondas  at  the  head  of  the 
whole  nation.  The  jealousies  of  Athens  and  Sparta  col- 
lectively, and  of  their  prominent  leaders  individually, 
could  not  have  tolerated  such  a  policy  for  an  instant. 

Hence  the  danger  from  Persia  was  now  an  increasing 
one,   and  when  Darius  Ochus,   the  ablest  of  the  later  Darius  Ochus. 
Persian  kings,  succeeded,  and  threatened   invasion  not 


1 88  .  /  Survey  of  Greek   Civilization. 


only  of  Syria  and  Egypt,  which  had  revolted,  but  of 
Asia  Minor,  we  cannot  but  feel  that  patriotic  Greek 
politicians  like  Demosthenes  felt  the  prospect  very 
gloomy  and  uncertain.  But  while  they  were  looking 
eastward,  the  same  danger  arose  in  the  North — that 
of  an  able  king,  with  resources  to  pay  an  efficient  mer- 
cenary army,  and  ambition  to  rule  over  Greece.  It  had 
been  preached  by  Xenophon  that  the  great  power  of 
Persia  was  at  the  mercy  of  an  able  invasion  from 
the  West.  He  did  not  say,  what  perhaps  he  and 
Isocrates  both  felt,  that  the  danger  of  a  Persian  invasion 
was  equally  great  to  Greece.  It  was  in  fact  a  case 
The  necessity  of  where  each  country  was  weak  in  defense,  strong  in 
foreign  policy,  attack,  and  even  the  internal  cohesion  of  each  depended 
upon  a  vigorous  foreign  policy. 

So  we  come  to  the  days  of  Philip  of  Macedon,  and  of 
his  great  opponent  Demosthenes,  a  period  which  we 
know,  politically  speaking,  better  than  most  periods  of 
ancient  or  medieval  history.  Would  that  we  could 
pierce  the  veil,  and  learn  the  social  and  artistic  life  with 
even  a  tithe  of  the  political  details  !  As  is  well  known 
to  those  who  have  read  my  earlier  books,  I  think 
Demosthenes  Demosthenes  as  a  politician  overrated.  He  had  indeed 
overratedCian  one  great  idea-  to  maintain  the  power  and  prestige 
of  Athens  as  a  leading  power  in  Hellenedom.  But  the 
means  he  took  to  promote  this  end  seem  to  me  to  have 
been  neither  the  most  moral  or  the  most  expedient. 
At  the  close  of  his  life,  at  all  events,  his  conduct  was 
more  than  doubtful,  and  it  requires  all  the  special  plead- 
ing of  the  most  learned  of  advocates — Arnold  Schafer — 
starting,  too,  with  a  preconceived  conviction  of  his 
absolute  honesty,  to  shake  the  evidence  which  the 
public  censure  of  his  conduct  by  his  countrymen  af- 
fords us. 


The  Fourth   Century  B.   C.  189 


This  remarkable  person  has  less  of  Attic  grace  about 
him  than  any  other  Athenian.  He  alone  of  them  all  is  » f™°s^f 
no  aristocrat.  His  father  was  a  respectable  tradesman  ;  people. 
he  had  no  training  in  athletics  ;  he  was  no  soldier,  like 
Xenophon,  and  therefore  in  contact  with  kings  and  gen- 
erals; he  was  no  fastidious  member  of  the  leisure  classes, 
like  Plato.  This  is  the  reason  that  with  all  his  greatness 
no  one  would  think  of  using  the  word  gentleman  as  a 
distinctive  epithet  for  him.  He  was  trained  to  fight  his 
way  by  dire  necessity,  his  guardians  having  embezzled 
his  property.  He  then  lived  by  writing  speeches  for 
litigants,  it  being  the  fashion  at  Athens  for  the  clients  to 
speak  for  themselves  in  court,  but  to  learn  by  heart  the 
harangue  written  for  them  by  a  trained  advocate.  He 
was  accused,  and  I  believe  justly,  of  having  taken  briefs 
on  both  sides  in  successive  branches  of  the  same  case. 
There  was  none  of  the  elegance  of  the  school  of  Plato  or 
of  Socrates  about  him,  nor  would  any  one  have  at- 
tributed to  him  the  political  epigrams  which  are  found  in 
the  "Anthology"  under  the  philosopher's  name. 

But,    on   the  other  hand,  when  he  once  enters   into 

His  earnest- 
politics,  we  feel  inspired  by  his  red-hot  earnestness,  in  a   "ess. 

society  which  he  felt  to  be  idle  and  dilatory,  seeking  to 
evade  responsibilities  by  paying  mercenary  troops  and 
passing  resolutions,  while  they  devoted  their  real  atten- 
tion to  the  intellectual  and  artistic  pleasures  of  Athenian 
life.      The  great  financial  reform   which   occupies   him,    Radical  finan- 

,  .  c  •  ii-  cial  reforms. 

when  money  is  wanting  for  pressing  public  purposes,  is 
to  make  the  people  surrender  their  Theoric  Fund,  which 
consisted  in  an  allowance  of  a  day's  wage  for  every  poor 
citizen  when  plays  were  being  performed  at  the  Diony- 
siac  theater.  This  money  paid  for  his  entrance  ;  but  he 
might  stay  at  home  and  spend  it  as  he  chose,  so  that  we 
have  here  an  early  specimen  of  that  habit  of  supporting 


190 


A  Survey  of  Greek  Civilization. 


The  Theoric 
Fund. 


Sources  for  the 
history  of  the 
struggle  be- 
tween Demos- 
thenes and 
Philip  of 
Macedon. 


Early  life  of 
Philip. 


a  dominant  city  population  in  idleness  by  money  or  corn 
drawn  from  the  taxes  of  their  subjects.  The  same  thing 
was  apparently  done  by  the  Ptolemies  in  Alexandria  ;  it 
was  done  afterward  on  a  larger  scale  and  with  more  fatal 
effects  at  Rome.  Any  straightforward  proposal  to  allo- 
cate this  fund  to  war  purposes  would  have  brought 
on  the  proposer  a  prosecution  under  the  "Bill  of  Illegal- 
ity," and  a  heavy  fine  for  the  offense  of  attempting  to 
alter  the  law.  This  was  the  safeguard  adopted  by 
the  Athenians  to  prevent  innovations  in  legislation.  It 
was  not  till  the  utmost  extremity,  and  when  it  was  really 
far  too  late,  that  the  citizens  were  brought  to  make  this 
sacrifice. 

The  details  of  the  long  struggles  by  which  Philip 
of  Macedon  gradually  sapped  and  overthrew  the  resist- 
ance of  the  Greek  states  to  his  encroachments,  and 
became  what  we  might  call  Emperor  of  the  Greeks, 
as  well  as  King  of  Macedon,  may  be  read  in  any  Greek 
history.  The  speeches  of  Demosthenes  and  his  oppo- 
nent yEschines,  Plutarch's  "  Life  of  Demosthenes  "  and 
Diodorus's  history  (Book  XVI.)  make  the  situation 
perfectly  clear.  Philip  was  a  man  like  Peter  the  Great 
of  Russia,  born  in  a  partly  civilized  but  young  and 
vigorous  nation.  He  came  early  to  the  centers  of  civili- 
zation and  was  even  a  hostage  at  Thebes  in  her  great 
days,  when  he  could  study  the  new  methods  of  Epami- 
nondas  and  the  success  of  the  Theban  infantry  under  his 
training.  He  learned  to  speak  and  write  Greek  per- 
fectly, and  could  claim  that  heroic  Greek  descent  which 
his  ancestor  Alexander  I.  had  established  in  the  time  of 
the  Persian  wars.*  His  court  had  officially  the  manners 
and  the  elegance  of  Greek  life.  There  were  professional 
artists  and  poets  whom  large  pay  would  easily  attract 

*Cf.  Herodotus  V..  Chap.  XXII. 


The  Fourth   Century  B.C.  191 

from  the  poor  republics.  When  envoys  came  from 
Athens  and  Sparta,  they  were  received  with  perfect 
courtesy.  But  it  was  freely  said  that  when  business  was 
over,    and  le  roi  s  amuse,    the  varnish   of   culture  dis-   Philip's 

excesses. 

appeared;  there  were  drunkenness  and  roistering,  and 
men  were  often  compelled  to  appeal  from  Philip  drunk 
to  Philip  sober.  The  Macedonian  nobles  were  great 
people  in  their  way  ;  most  of  them  seem  to  have  been 
brought  up  as  royal  pages  about  the  court,  and  so  they 
would  shake  off  at  least  the  rudeness  of  their  mountain 
homes,  and  learn  Greek  and  manners  with  the  royal 
princes.  But  in  many  respects  even  these  suffered  from 
the  imperfect  refinement  of  the  kingdom.  Polygamy  po)  r  am  of 
seems  always  to  have  been  permitted  to  the  king ;  if  not  ^gd°0fn 
polygamy,  that  license  which  was  so  disgraceful  among 
the  European  princes  of  the  last  century.  By  means  of 
marrying  Illyrian  or  Thracian  princesses  the  kings 
of  Macedon  thought  to  cement  new  alliances  with  power- 
ful or  threatening  neighbors.  But  they  lost  far  more  by 
the  disintegration  of  their  home-life  than  they  gained  by 
securing  their  frontiers.  There  were  frequent  family  its  evils. 
tragedies,  in  which  these  semi-barbarous  princesses  en- 
deavored to  sweep  away  their  rivals  ;  there  were  rela- 
tives exiled,  who  revived  the  dangers  from  without  ; 
there  were  doubts  about  the  succession,  and  all  the 
attendant  evils  which  this  uncertainty  entails. 

It  was  in  spite  of  these  difficulties,  which  caused  every 
accession  of  a  new  king  to  be  a  crisis  in  Macedonian  af- 
fairs, that  Philip  by  ability,  pertinacity,  diplomacy,  and  Phiijp'S  talents 
strategy  combined,  made  himself  in  twenty  years  master  a°rd  s1t?a<tegy.y 
of  northern  Greece.  Demosthenes,  who  had  no  weapon 
but  his  tongue,  and  Athens,  a  democracy  where  every- 
thing was  publicly  discussed  before  it  was  undertaken, 
were  no   match  for  Philip,   a  man  with  a  sword,  with 


192 


A  Survey  of  Greek   Civilization. 


Energy  and 
resources  of 

Philip. 


Encroachment 
of  Locrians  on 
the  sacred 
plain. 


a  mine  of  gold  in  Mount  Pangaeus,  and  with  the  power 
to  carry  out  his  secret  plans  by  a  mere  command.  He 
kept,  moreover,  paid  agents  in  most  Greek  cities,  who 
not  only  thwarted  and  delayed  any  action  against  him, 
but  kept  him  fully  informed  of  all  the  proposals  and 
possibilities  discussed  in  the  Greek  assemblies.  The 
wonder  is  that  northern  Greece  resisted  so  long.  It  was 
not  till  Philip  had  excited  through  his  agent  yEschines 
two  religious  wars,  that  he  made  the  confusion  so  great 
as  to  require  his  assistance  to  be  invited  by  the  dis- 
tracted religious  synod  at  Delphi.*  The  graphic  story 
is  as  fresh,  when  we  read  it  now,  as  ever.  How  the 
orator  yEschines,  attending  a  feast  at  the  shrine  of  Del- 
phi, looked  down  from  his  lofty  position  into  the  plain 
far  beneath,  a  plain  devoted  to  the  god  in  a  long- 
forgotten  act  of  the  Greeks  under  Solon,  when  those 
that  murdered  or  plundered  the  pilgrims  coming  from 
the  nearest  port  (Kirrha)  were  humbled  and  banished, 
and  the  cultivation  of  this  plain  forbidden.  Gradually, 
as  years  and  generations  went  on,  the  neighboring 
Locrians,  after  the  defeat  and  humiliation  of  the  Pho- 
cians,  had  encroached  upon  the  sacred  plain,  and 
covered  it  with  crops  and  cattle.  Nobody  apparently 
objected  ;  it  was  an  accomplished  sacrilege  of  consider- 
able standing.  Upon  the  unsuspecting  occupiers  of  the 
sacred  plain  yEschines  suddenly  turned  his  mighty  elo- 
quence, in  well-feigned  horror  at  so  outrageous  and 
barefaced  a  sacrilege.      His  audience  at  Delphi  were  not 


*  I  pass  over,  as  requiring  too  long  a  discussion,  Philip's  wars  with  the  Pho- 
cian  mercenar  v  leaders  who  had  seized  the  Temple  of  Delphi  and  plundered  it  of 
something  like  eleven  millions  of  dollars  in  treasure.  Thus  many  historic 
jewels  ami  precious  ornaments  went  U>  the  melting-pot.  The  mistresses  ol  the 
Phocian  chiefs,  who  were  mere  leaders  of  mercenaries,  wore  necklaces  that 
had  helonged  to  ancient  and  semi-mythical  queens.  All  the  sentiments  of 
holiness  and  of  veneration  for  a  noble  past  were  shocked  by  these  proceedings, 
but  it  was  not  till  Philip  was  called  in  that  the  mercenary  forces  fed  by  the 
treasures  of  the  temple  were  dispersed  and  Philip  came  into  Greece  as  the  ad- 
vocate of  religion  and  of  the  authority  of  the  Amphictyonic  Synod. 


The  Fourth   Century  B.  C. 


193 


accustomed    to    the  artistic    eloquence  habitual   in   the 

Attic  assemblies.    They  simply  went  off  their  heads  with   ^^sti^ted" 

excitement,  and  rushing  down  with  what  arms  they  had   b>'  ^schines. 

ready,  raided  the  plain,  committing  murder  and  violence 

upon  the  innocent  and   astonished  descendants  of  the 

forgotten  criminals.      The  punishment  for  this  outrage 

in   the  name  of  religion  was  not  long  delayed.      The 

Locrians  (of  Amphissa)  not  only  retaliated  with  success, 

but  even  made  prisoners  of  many  of  the  aggressors. 

The  whole  story  is  worth  telling  in  order  to  show  how 
in  these  remote  but  truly  modern  days,  religion  was 
used  as  a  political  engine,  and  people  who  cared  but 
little  for  the  gods  could  excite  themselves  into  a  pious 
frenzy,  if  it  was  shown  that  the  upholding  of  their  creed 
coincided  with  the  furtherance  of  their  material  interests. 

"The  Amphiktyons  being  assembled  (I  here  give  the  main  re- 
cital, though  not  the  exact  words,  of  yEschines),  a  friendly  per-  Recital  of 
son  came  to  acquaint  us  that  the  Amphissians  were  bringing  ^schines- 
on  their  accusation  against  Athens.  My  sick  colleagues  re- 
quested me  immediately  to  enter  the  assembly  and  undertake 
her  defense.  I  made  haste  to  comply,  and  was  just  beginning 
to  speak  when  an  Amphissian— of  extreme  rudeness  and  bru- 
tality— perhaps  even  under  the  impulse  of  some  misguiding 
divine  impulse — interrupted  me  and  exclaimed — '  Do  not  hear 
him,  men  of  Hellas  !  Do  not  present  the  name  of  the  Athe- 
nian people  to  be  pronounced  among  you  at  this  holy  season  ! 
Turn  them  out  of  the  sacred  ground  like  men  under  a  curse.' 
With  that  he  denounced  us  for  our  alliance  with  the  Phocians, 
and  poured  out  many  other  outrageous  invectives  against  the 
city.  To  me  (continues  ^Eschines)  all  this  was  intolerable  to 
hear  ;  I  cannot  even  now  think  on  it  with  calmness — and  at  the 
moment  I  was  provoked  to  anger  such  as  I  had  never  felt  in 
my  life  before.  The  thought  crossed  me  that  I  would  retort 
upon  the  Amphissians  for  their  impious  invasion  of  the 
Kirrhaean  land.  That  plain,  lying  immediately  below  the 
sacred  precinct  in  which  we  were  assembled,  was  visible 
throughout.     'You  see,  Amphiktyons  (said  I),  that  plain  cul- 


Insult  to  Ath- 
ens by  an 
Amphissian. 


Retaliation  of 
jEschines. 


i94 


A  Survey  of  Greek   Civilization. 


Appeal  of 

1  5i  hinestothe 
Amphiktyons. 


He  reminds 
them  of  the 
oath  of  their 
forefathers. 


Excitement  of 
the  Amphikty- 


tivated  by  the  Amphissians,  with  buildings  erected  in  it  for 
farming  and  pottery  !  You  have  before  your  eyes  the  harbor, 
consecrated  by  the  oath  of  your  forefathers,  now  occupied  and 
fortified.  You  know  of  yourselves,  without  needing  witnesses 
to  tell  you,  that  these  Amphissians  have  levied  tolls  and  are 
taking  profit  out  of  the  sacred  harbor  ! '  I  then  caused  to  be 
read  publicly  the  ancient  oracle,  the  oath,  and  the  impreca- 
tions (pronounced  after  the  first  sacred  war,  wherein  Kirrha 
was  destroyed).  Then  continuing,  I  said  :  '  Here  am  I,  ready 
to  defend  the  god  and  the  sacred  property,  according  to  the 
oath  of  our  forefathers,  with  hand,  foot,  voice,  and  all  the 
powers  that  I  possess.  I  stand  prepared  to  clear  my  own  city 
of  her  obligations  to  the  gods  ;  do  you  take  counsel  forthwith 
for  yourselves.  You  are  here  about  to  offer  sacrifice  and  pray 
to  the  gods  for  good  things,  publicly  and  individually.  Look 
well  then — where  will  you  find  voice,  or  soul,  or  eyes,  or  cour- 
age, to  pronounce  such  supplications,  if  you  permit  these  ac- 
cursed Amphissians  to  remain  unpunished,  when  they  have 
come  under  the  imprecations  of  the  recorded  oath  ?  Recollect 
that  the  oath  distinctly  proclaims  the  sufferings  awaiting  all  im- 
pious transgressors,  and  even  menaces  those  who  tolerate  their 
proceedings,  by  declaring  —They  who  do  not  stand  forward  to 
vindicate  Apollo,  Artemis,  Latona,  and  Athene  Pronaea,  may 
not  sacrifice  undefiled  or  with  favorable  acceptance." 

Such  is  the  graphic  and  impressive  description  given  by 
yEschines  himself  some  years  afterwards  to  the  Athenian  as- 
sembly, of  his  own  address  to  the  Amphiktyonic  meeting  in 
spring  339  B.  C,  on  the  lofty  site  of  the  Delphian  Pylaea,  with 
Kirrha  and  its  plain  spread  out  before  his  eyes,  and  with  the 
ancient  oath  and  all  its  fearful  imprecations  recorded  on  the 
brass  plate  hard  by,  readable  by  every  one.  His  speech,  re- 
ceived with  loud  shouts,  roused  violent  passion  in  the  bosoms 
of  the  Amphiktyons,  as  well  as  of  the  hearers  assembled 
round.  The  audience  at  Delphi  was  not  like  that  of  Athens. 
Athenian  citizens  were  accustomed  to  excellent  oratory,  and  to 
the  task  of  balancing  opposite  arguments:  though  susceptible 
of  high-wrought  intellectual  excitement — admiration  or  repug- 
nance as  the  case  might  be — they  discharged  it  all  in  the  final 
vote,  and  then  went  home  to  their  private  affairs.  Rut  to  the 
comparatively  rude  men  at  Delphi,  the  speech  of  a  first-rate 
Athenian    orator  was  a   rarity.     When    /Eschines,   with  great 


The  Fourth   Cent  toy  B.   C. 


195 


Mass  of  the 
people  still  re- 
vere the  gods. 


rhetorical  force,  unexpectedly  revived  in  their  imaginations  the 
ancient  and  terrific  history  of  the  curse  of  Kirrha — assisted  by 
all  the  force  of  visible  and  local  association — they  were  worked 
up  to  madness ;  while  in  such  minds  as  theirs,  the  emotion 
raised  would  not  pass  off  by  simple  voting,  but  required  to  be 
discharged  by  instant  action.* 

All  this  is  most  interesting,  as  showing  us  that  in 
spite  of  philosophers  and  historians,  in  spite  of  rational 
inquiry  and  moral  protests,  the  gods  of  the  Greek  pan- 
theon were  still  gods  to  the  mass  of  the  people,  and  it 
was  still  possible  to  discredit  and  ruin  an  adversary  by- 
charging  him  with  impiety.  This  sort  of  faith  seems  to 
remain  in  the  people  down  to  the  latest  and  most  skep- 
tical days,  when  most  of  the  serious  thinkers  and  most 
of  the  educated  classes  do  not  hesitate  to  avow  their 
skepticism.  But  have  we  not  had  similar  phenomena 
many  times  since,  during  the  Italian  Renaissance,  dur- 
ing the  French  Revolution,  and  even  after  a  polite 
fashion  in  our  own  day  ?f  It  should  be  remembered  in 
palliation  of  the  Greeks  that  they  had  no  revelation,  no 
faith  purified  of  superstition,  no  high  moral  standard 
preached  by  any  established  clergy  in  their  land.  Their 
highest  moral  teachers  were  laymen,  and,  if  I  may  so 
say,  amateurs  in  theology. 

This  sudden  flame  excited  by  yEschines,  as  sudden  as 
the  outbreak  of  the  Armenian  disturbances  in  1895, 
clouded  the  whole  political  horizon,  brought  Philip 
through  the  passes  (he  fortified  Elatea  in  the  critical 
place),  and  forced  at  the  last  moment  the  Thebans  and 
Athenians  to  combine  in  a  vain  attempt  to  resist  him. 
The  battle  of  Chaeronea  (338  B.  C.)  settled  the  question   JcrLrorS. 

*  Grote,  "  History  of  Greece,"  Chap.  XC. 

t  Thus  at  a  recent  election  for  the  British  Parliament  held  in  Dublin  Univer- 
sity the  opponents  of  the  famous  historian,  Mr.  Lecky,  who  were  lawyers,  and 
desired  to  return  one  of  their  own  body,  raised  a  religious  cry  against  him, 
with  no  more  honesty  than  the  tirade  of  yEschines.  This  happened  in  the  year 
ofour  Lord  1895. 


Philip  advances 
into  Greece. 


ig6 


A  Survey  of  Greek  Civilization. 


The  lion  of 
ChEeronea. 


of  the  supremacy  in  Greece.  Two  memorable  monu- 
ments remain  of  this  crisis,  one  the  lion  over  the  fallen 
in  that  battle,  the  other  the  "funeral  oration  "  of  Greek 
liberty — the  famous  speech  "On  the  Crown"  delivered 
some  years  later  by  Demosthenes.  As  regards  the  lion 
I  cannot  tell  the  impression  it  made  upon  me  better 
than  by  repeating  my  words  written  long  ago. 

As  we  saw  it,  on  a  splendid  afternoon  in  June,  it  lay  in  per- 
fect repose  and  oblividn,  the  fragments  large  enough  to  tell  the 
contour  and  the  style  ;  in  the  mouth  of  the  upturned  head, 
wild  bees  were  busy  at  their  work,  and  the  honeycomb  was 
there  between  its  teeth.  The  Hebrew  story  came  fresh  upon 
us,  and  we  longed  for  the  strength  which  tore  the  lion  of  old, 
to  gather  the  limbs  and  heal  the  rents  of  his  marble  fellow. 
The  lion  of  Samson  was  a  riddle  to  the  Philistines  which  they 
could  not  solve  ;  and  so  I  suppose  this  lion  of  Chaeronea  was  a 
riddle,  too — a  deeper  riddle  to  better  men — why  the  patriot 
should  fall  before  the  despot,  and  the  culture  of  Greece  before 
the  Csesarism  of  Macedonia.  Even  within  Greece  there  is  no 
want  of  remarkable  parallels.  This,  the  last  effulgence  of  the 
setting  sun  of  Greek  liberty,  was  commemorated  by  a  lion  and 
a  mound,  as  the  opening  struggle  of  Marathon  was  also  marked 
by  a  lion  and  a  mound.  At  Marathon  the  mound  is  there  and 
the  lion  gone — at  Chaeronea  the  lion  is  there  and  the  mound 
gone.  But  doubtless  the  earlier  lion  was  far  inferior  in  expres- 
sion and  in  beauty,  and  was  a  small  object  on  so  large  a  tomb. 
Later  men  made  the  sepulcher  itself  of  less  importance,  and 
the  poetic  element  more  prominent ;  and  perhaps  this  very  fact 
tells  the  secret  of  their  failure,  and  why  the  refined  sculptor  of 
the  lion  was  no  equal  in  politics  and  war  to  the  rude  carver  of 
the  relief  of  the  Marathonian  warrior. 

These  and  such  like  thoughts  throng  the  mind  of  him  who 
sits  beside  the  solitary  tomb  ;  and  it  may  be  said  in  favor  of  its 
remoteness  and  difficulty  of  access,  that  in  solitude  there  is  at 
least  peace  and  leisure,  and  the  scattered  objects  of  interest  are 
scanned  with  affection  and  with  care. 

Demosthenes's         The  other  monument  is  the  great  speech,  which  was 
Crown':'  out  of   date  when  it  was  delivered,   for   the  particular 


The  lion  of 
Marathon. 


The  Fotirth   Century  B.   C.  197 


question  was  not  only  settled,  but  the  gigantic  figure  of 
Alexander  loomed  upon  the  world  ;  it  is  ever  fresh  to 
the  present  day,  as  the  proudest  and  most  perfect  pro- 
test of  the  Hellenic  idea  of  liberty  against  the  imperial- 
ism of  Macedonia. 

Here  again  we  have  a  jewel  in  Greek  literature  which  subtleties  of 
no  translation  can  even  faintly  reproduce.  For  apart  Demosthenes. 
from  the  subtle  woof  of  the  oration,  which  blends  cold 
argument  with  impassioned  appeal,  personal  invective 
with  large  policy,  urgent  reasons  with  specious  fallacies 
which  we  can  still  analyze,  the  rhythm  and  balance 
of  the  composition,  the  almost  poetical  rise  and  fall  of 
the  periods,  the  careful  attention  to  sound  as  well  as  to 
sense,  are  such  that  only  in  recent  days  are  its  secrets 
being  unlocked,  and  we  are  beginning  to  understand 
what  was  meant  when  men  said  that  such  a  speech  smelt 
of  the  midnight  lamp.  The  subtleties  of  this  oration  are 
like  the  delicate  curves  in  all  the  lines  of  the  Parthenon, 
which  looked  a  building  easy  enough  to  copy  with 
modern  appliances,  whereas  we  now  know  that  such  a 
task  would  be  perfectly  vain. 

One  feature,  however,  is  especially  worth  mentioning:   _  , 

r  J  °     Calm  of  peror- 

here,  as  it  recurs  in  most  of  Demosthenes' s  speeches,  ation- 
and  that  is  the  quiet  and  almost  tame  ending.  The 
great  splendor  of  the  speech  is  not  reserved  for  perora- 
tion, but  shines  all  over  its  framework.  As  in  tragedy, 
so  in  eloquence,  it  seems  rather  in  accordance  with 
Greek  taste  to  allow  the  hearer's  feelings  to  subside 
into  calm  before  the  orator  concluded.* 

These  remarks  upon  the  eloquence  of  Demosthenes 
suggest  to  me  that  a  word  may  be  said  concerning  the 
society  of  Athens  which  is  addressed  in  the  speeches  not 

*  In  modern  art  I  can  point  to  an  example  in  some  of  Gounod's  finest  songs, 
which  after  a  passionate  outburst  have  a  tame  and  almost  poor  conclusion. 


198  ./  Survey  of  Greek  Civilization. 

only  of  this  great  master,  but  of  his  predecessors  as  far 
back  as  Lysias  at  the  opening  of  the  century,  and  of  his 
successors  or  younger  contemporaries,  with  whom  he 
was  frequently  in  conflict. 

It  does  not  concern  us  to  know  whether  the  arguments 

Studies  of  t  . 

character  in  the   0f  Lysias  and  his  school  were  accurate.      In  one  thing 

speeches  of  J  . 

Lysias.  they  must  have  approached  hie  as  nearly  as  the  genteel 

comedy  did  ;  they  composed  their  court  speeches  in 
character,  and  put  very  different  arguments  in  a  very 
different  style  according  as  their  clients  varied  in  rank 
and  circumstances.  We  have  the  bold  and  reckless 
young  aristocrat,  full  of  horse-play  and  insolence,  the 
timid  householder  appealing  for  mercy  by  bringing  up 
his  wife  and  little  children  to  excite  commiseration,  nay 
even  in  one  speech  of  Lysias  "Concerning  the  Pauper,"* 
a  picture  of  what  is  commonly  called  an  "original,"  a 
man  patronized  by  the  rich  for  his  pleasant  manners  and 
good  sayings,  and  who  defends  himself  against  the 
charge  of  being  no  pauper,  because  his  friends  give  him 
a  horse  to  ride,  with  no  little  humor. 

The  genius  of  Demosthenes  does  not  lie  in  this  direc- 
tion. The  speeches  written  for  his  private  clients  do 
not  show  this  dramatic  turn.  Even  in  the  long  process 
against  his  guardians,  we  do  not  feel  any  more  difference 
in  their  varieties  of  dishonesty  than  we  do  in  the  secon- 
dary characters  in  "  Pickwick,"  which  are,  with  one  or 
two  exceptions,  lay  figures. 

It  will  be  said  by  his  extreme  admirers  that  he  was 

Evidence  from     too  serious  for  such   matters,   that   he   fixed   his  whole 

Demosthenes  .  .  .   .  ,       .    .  ,  « 

forthemoral       attention  on  the  case,  without  desiring  to  do  more  than 

standard  of  .  ^p,  

public  life.  press  home  the  most  convincing  arguments.      1  hat  ma\ 

be  true,  but  to  give  us  a  picture  of  society  he  is  therefore 

*  He  was  supported  as  such  by  a  state  allowance.  His  accuser  thought  it  no 
proper  case  for  such  charity  because  the  man  was  really  well  off. 


The  Fourth   Century  B.  C. 


199 


not  so  useful  as  his  inferior  but  more  human  rivals. 
His  honesty  is  only  worth  considering  as  giving  us  a  clue 
to  the  moral  standard  of  public  life  at  Athens  in  those 
days.  That  such  a  standard  could  be  absolutely  very 
hisrh  we  know  from  the  life  and  acts  of  Phocion,  who   Phocion's 

£>  attitude  to 

seems  always  to  have  despised  Demosthenes  not  only  as   Demosthenes. 
a  man  of  too  many  words,  but  (I   fancy)   as  a  man  of 
doubtful  honesty. 

But  I  desire  to  insist  upon  this,  that  we  must  rather  blame    , 

r  a    1  1  j  j        Low  average 

the  low  average  of  political  honesty  at  Athens  than  degrade  of  political 
the  great  orator  to  the  position  to  which  modern  morals  would  onest>- 
condemn  him.  In  fact,  the  ordinary  rules  of  political  life  at 
Athens  tolerated  abuses  which  may  perhaps  still  exist  in 
America,  but  which  are  happily  almost  extinct  in  England. 
I  allude  above  all  to  the  abuse  of  allowing  indirect  profits  to  be 
made  by  politics. 

Our  evidence  on  this  point  and  in  the  case  of  Demosthenes  is 
too  precise  to  be  refuted,  and  shows  us  that  he  must  have  done 
many  acts  in  his  life  which  left  him  open  to  charges  of  dis- 
honesty which  he  could  only  rebut  by  a  general  appeal  to  his 
character,  but  which  he  could  never  directly  refute.  All  his 
accusers  agree  in  speaking  of  his  great  wealth  in  mature  life. 
It  is  the  common  theory  of  the  moderns  that  he  made  his 
fortune  by  speech-writing.  But  as  he  abandoned  this  profession 
early,  and  as  we  never  hear  of  its  being  a  very  lucrative  one, 
such  an  explanation  is  quite  inadequate.  How  do  his  oppo- 
nents account  for  it?  Hypereides  is  peculiarly  precise,  and 
gives  us  exactly  the  information  which  is  interesting  for  our 
present  purpose.     "As   I   have   often  before   said  in  public, 

judges,  vou  allow  many  profits  without  demur  to  generals  and    Profits  of 
■J       &      '  3  J  ^  °  political  life, 

politicians — not  by  the  permission  of  the  laws,  but  from  your 

easy  temper  and  good  nature — making  this  one  condition,  that 

what  they  make  must  be  for  your  sake,  and  not  against  your 

interests.     And  I  suppose  that  Demosthenes  and   Demades, 

from  the  mere  decrees  passed  in  the  city,  and  their  relations 

with  aliens,  have  each  received  more  than  sixty  talents,  apart 

from  gifts  from  the  Persian  king."     We  have  the  same  thing 

asserted  in  the  speech  for  Euxenippus  quite  generally  ;  as  to 

Demosthenes,    we  have  in  the  accusation  of  Deinarchus  the 


200 


A  Survey  of  Greek  Civilization. 


These  profits 
made  in  interest 
of  the  democ- 
racy. 


Monetary 
problems  in 
Demosthenes's 
speeches. 


Token  money. 


same  facts  worked  out  in  detail.  We  are  given  a  list  of  decrees 
which  he  was  supposed  to  have  carried  not  without  gratuities 
for  doing  so,  and  then  we  are  informed  that  he  had  an  immense 
property  of  ready  money — as  much  as  a  hundred  and  fifty 
talents — the  evidence  of  the  large  profits  of  his  politics. 

I  can  see  no  reason  to  doubt,  and  I  am  convinced  no  con- 
temporary doubted,  the  truth  of  these  statements  as  to  his 
wealth,  and  his  manner  of  acquiring  it.  But  I  repeat  that  it 
was  looked  upon  as  fair  and  honorable  in  the  society  of  that 
day,  provided  it  was  obtained  from  friends,  and  not  from 
enemies  of  the  democracy,  and  provided  it  was  spent  liberally 
on  public  objects.  In  fact,  the  ordinary  formula  of  accusation 
all  through  these  orations  is  not  that  the  accused  took  bribes 
and  benevolences,  but  that  he  took  them  "against  your 
interests,"  and  this  was  the  only  criminal  point.  Accordingly 
in  Demosthenes's  replies,  so  far  as  we  can  judge  from  the 
"  Oration  on  the  Crown,"  he  never  denied  his  wealth  ;  he  never 
denied  that  he  had  received  large  monies  on  the  score  of 
politics,  but  he  insists  that  he  never  acted  or  spoke  except  in 
the  interests  of  the  democracy.* 

The  business  side  of  these  speeches  is  a  special  study 
which  requires  intricate  research,  and  the  monetary 
questions  which  sometimes  arise  in  this  and  later  days 
are  as  complicated  and  incomprehensible  as  the  bimetal- 
lic controversy  in  our  own  time.  We  know  from  a  dia- 
logue attributed  to  one  of  the  companions  or  followers 
of  Socrates  (yEschines,  not  the  orator)  that  the  great 
traders  of  the  eastern  Levant,  the  Phenicians,  had  long 
since  discovered  the  use  of  token  money.  They  had  no 
doubt  also  bills  and  checks,  but  the  device  in  question 
was  to  seal  up  small  bags  professing  to  have  within  them 
a  certain  sum,  which  was  stamped  upon  the  outside 
with  the  seal  of  the  state.  Though  it  was  notorious 
that  the  coin  was  not  there,  such  a  bag,  so  long  as  it 
carried  the  seal  guaranteeing  its  value  in  exchange, 
passed  as  actual  money. 

*"  Social  Life  in  Greece,"  Mahaffy,  pages  425-7  (7th  edition). 


The  Fourth   Century  B.  C.  201 

The  most  doubtful  point  about  their  business  arrange- 
ments seems  to  be  the  persistent  high  rate  of  interest —  ^|| J1  ™ te  of 
twelve  per  cent  was  thought  very  low,  and  could  be  had 
on  the  safest  investments,  whereas  we  find  that  as  se- 
curity increases,  and  men  come  to  understand  inter- 
national duties,  the  interest  on  money  that  is  safe  sinks 
lower  and  lower,  so  that  now  our  state  securities  in 
England  are  even  below  three  per  cent.  This  arises,  I 
suppose,  from  two  causes,  either  or  both  of  which  might 
produce  this  result.  First,  the  insecurity  of  republics 
as  such  and  the  frequency  of    wars  made  investments   Reasons  for 

^  J  low  rate  of 

for  any  Ions:  period  unsafe,  and  it   is  only  investments  interest  in 

.  our  day. 

which  are  practically  permanent,  which  cause  no  trouble 
or  care  to  the  investor,  that  are  now  placed  at  very  low 
interest.  Secondly,  the  want  of  accumulated  capital 
makes  it  more  difficult  to  obtain  idle  money  for  imme- 
diate commercial  use,  and  raises  the  price  which  men 
are  willing  to  pay  for  that  use.  In  every  disturbed 
place,  or  on  the  frontiers  of  civilization,  money  is  even 
now  dear  enough,  and  there  are  plenty  of  societies 
whose  men  would  willingly  borrow  if  they  could  at 
twelve  per  cent,  because  they  can  obtain  quick  returns 
with  very  large  profits.  Such  considerations  are  ob- 
vious. To  enter  more  deeply  into  money  questions 
would  require  a  special  knowledge  which  I  do  not  - 
possess. 

While  speaking  of  the  great  orators,  who  made  style 
their  first  object,  we  have  naturally  drifted  away  from 
the  other  great  contemporary  development  in  Greek 
writing.  I  mean  the  philosophical,  which  despised  all 
the  adiuncts  of  grace,  of  pathos,  of  humor,  with  which   Philosophical 

J  °  L  prose  alter 

Plato    had    set    forth    his   system,  and    set   store   upon   PIato- 
nothing  but  logical  acuteness  and  scientific   accuracy. 
This  is  the  reason  why  we  often  feel  that  Aristotle,  in 


202 


A  Survey  of  Greek   Civilization. 


Wide  range  of 
Ai  istotle's 
studies. 


Aristotle's 
definition  of 

rhetoric. 


His  theory  of 
intellectual 
pleasure  as  the 
end  of  life. 


many  senses  the  greatest  of  the  Greeks,  is  not  a  Greek 
at  all.  He  was  an  encyclopaedist ;  his  studies  embraced 
all  departments  of  human  knowledge.  Like  Solomon, 
he  discoursed  on  plants,  ' '  from  the  cedar  that  is  in  Leb- 
anon to  the  hyssop  that  groweth  on  the  wall ' '  ;  upon 
animals,  upon  the  heavenly  bodies  and  their  divine 
author,  on  the  mind  of  man  and  its  faculties,  intellectual 
and  moral,  in  fact,  on  all  things  human  and  divine. 

He  even  turns,  not  only  to  rhetoric,  which  he  defines 
as  the  art  of  persuasion,  but  to  poetry,  especially  the  art 
of  representing  fictitious  characters  upon  the  stage,  and 
subjects  what  we  should  call  a  mere  form  of  amusement 
to  the  most  searching  analysis  and  criticism.  But  here 
he  is  indeed  a  Greek,  and  bases  his  researches  upon  the 
theory  that  intellectual  and  refined  leisure  is  the  chief 
end  of  man.  This  he  holds  to  be  even  the  happiness  of 
the  gods,  or  of  the  Deity,  and  whatever  beings  there  are 
in  a  higher  state  than  men.  They  are  employed  in  the 
contemplation  of  the  immense  variety  and  beauty  of  the 
universe,  and  this  contemplation  is  no  labor,  but  the  en- 
joyment of  perfect  knowledge  and  perfect  leisure.  This, 
too,  should  be  the  happiness  of  the  cultivated  man  here, 
whose  leisure  hours  should  not  be  spent  in  regarding 
vulgar  cares,  or  be  wasted  upon  vulgar  sympathies,  but 
engaged  in  contemplating  ideal  human  actions — not 
always  ideally  good,  but  ideal  in  their  greatness,  their 
dignity,  their  importance,  as  illustrations  of  the  laws 
which  govern  the  world.  Thus  he  raises  the  tragedy  of 
the  great  masters  to  a  subject  fit  for  divine  philosophy, 
and  not  unworthy  of  the  highest  scientific  treatment. 
We  need  not  here  turn  aside  to  his  purely  physical 
labors — labors  which  have  affected  medieval  life  far 
more  than  they  affected  his  own  time  and  age,  labors  in 
which  he  substituted  for  the  poetry  of  Plato's  theories 


The  Fourth   Century  B.   C. 


203 


Aristotle's 

"  Ethics  "  and 

"  Politics." 


the  prose  of  the  painstaking  observation  of  myriad  facts. 
Here  we  should  find  his  most  universal  and  non-Hel- 
lenic side.  But  in  his  "  Ethics"  and  his  "  Politics"  he 
is  still  a  Hellene  of  the  Hellenes,  overrating  the  power 
of  intellect  as  compared  with  moral  instincts,  above  all 
overrating  the  politics  of  the  little  Greek  democratic 
state  in  comparison  with  the  imperial  system  inaugu- 
rated by  his  great  pupil  Alexander.*  And  yet  he  never 
took  any  practical  part  in  the  turbulent  affairs  of  the 
states  in  which  he  lived. 

He  sojourned  in  Macedonia,  in  Asia  Minor  ;  he  ulti- 
mately kept  a  school  at  Athens ;  but  even  there  he  was 
a  "  Peripatetic,"  not  settled  as  it  were,  or  rooted  to  any  Aristotle  a  true 

11  1  tt    11  "Peripatetic." 

spot,  not  bound,  as  every  other  Hellene  was,  to  one 
narrow  fatherland.  Thus  he  comes  to  have  but  little 
place  in  this  book,  for  I  cannot  but  instinctively  regard 
him  as  a  great  outsider,  combining  many  narrownesses 
indeed  of  his  age  and  race  with  a  certain  cosmopolitan- 
ism which  was  no  small  agent  in  breaking  down  the 
peculiar  virtues  as  well  as  the  weaknesses  of  Hellene- 
dom,  and  changing  it  into  the  broader,  shallower,  more 
commonplace  Hellenism,  which  we  shall  consider  in  a 
subsequent  chapter.  As  in  his  personal  appearance,  so 
in  his  writings,  there  was  an  almost  total  absence  of  Absence  of 
beauty,  and  the  recovery  of  his  lost  work  on  the  con-  workplaces3 
stitution  of  Athens  has  not  altered  that  judgment.  Gr^ek'cuUur^ 

What  place  can  a  man  devoid  of  this  feature  have  in 
a  study  of  Greek  culture  ?  None,  I  think,  but  that  of  a 
strange  and  notable  exception,  given  us,  as  it  were,  to 
show  that  even  in  scientific  severity,  in  cold  reasoning, 
in  complete  absence  of  any  relaxation  of  thought  and  of 
life,  the  Greeks  were  our  masters,  and  equalled  the  best 


*  I  must  refer  the  reader  for  details  to  the  chapter  on  Aristotle  in  my 
tory  of  Greek  Classical  Literature." 


204 


A  Survey  of  Greek   Civilization. 


Aristotle's 
influence  on 
scientific 
discovery. 

Reverence  for 
Aristotle  in  the 
Middle  Ages. 


modern  men  here,  as  they  surpassed  them  in  manifesta- 
tions of  the  beautiful.  For  there  never  was  any  single 
man  who  had  a  greater  effect  in  promoting  the  knowl- 
edge of  his  own  and  of  succeeding  generations.  It  may 
even  be  said  in  proof  of  his  greatness  that  he  also  re- 
tarded more  than  any  other  man  ever  did  the  course  of 
scientific  discovery.  For  he  bound  the  learned  men  of 
the  Middle  Ages  by  the  superstitious  veneration  for  his 
words,  which  they  accepted  as  almost  inspired.  In  the 
thirteenth  century  he  was  all  but  canonized  as  a  saint  by 
the  Roman  Catholic  Church.  And  so  modern  thinkers 
found  it  their  hardest  task  to  break  through  the  bonds 
of  Aristotle,  whom  early  thinkers  had  failed  to  follow  in 
his  marvelous  investigations.  Were  there  ever  stranger 
or  more  inconsistent  evidences  of  human  greatness  ! 


CHAPTER  VII. 

the  fourth  century  b.   c.    (Continued). 

Having  now  surveyed  rapidly  the  most  remarkable 
developments  of  the  fourth  century  B.  C.  down  to 
the  accession  of  Alexander,  it  is  worth  while  to  pause  at 
the  threshold  of  a  new  epoch  and  reflect  upon  the 
wonderful  age  which  we  have  just  passed  through.  It 
may  fairly  be  said  that  the  century  435-335  B-  C-  was 
the  most  important  that  ever  yet  has  occurred  for 
the  cultivation  of  the  human  race.  Not  in  quantity 
or  extent  of  culture — far  from  it — but  in  quality.  It  was  Culture  of  the 
during  that  century  that  there  was  attained  in  many  ^f^aiied!"0 
of  the  highest  departments  of  human  intellect  a  standard, 
which  has  not  only  never  been  exceeded,  but  to  which 
we  have  ever  since  been  striving  as  an  ideal,  and  striving 
in  vain.  When  we  speak  of  classical  works,  as  a  stand- 
ard for  our  literature,  we  refer  to  the  works  which  were 
produced  within  a  hundred,  or  at  least  a  hundred 
and  fifty  years,  ending  with  the  fall  of  the  liberties  of 
Greece.  We  may  use  the  word  in  a  second-hand  sense, 
as  applying  to  Roman  models.  But  these  were  all  Greek  masler. 
depending  directly  upon  the  Greek  originals,  which  P^cestheoniy 
were  the  only  true  classics  the  world  has  yet  produced. 
There  have  been  other  great  developments  of  art  and 
literature  called  Romantic,  called  Medieval,  called  By- 
zantine, or  what  you  like,  and  very  splendid  some 
of  them  have  been.  But  once  and  again  the  world  has 
turned  from  them  with  the  enthusiasm  of  a  new  dis- 
covery to  the    great  original  classics,    which  exalt  the 


2o6 


A  Survey  of  Greek   Civilization. 


Greek  sculpture   the  primary  object. 

result  of  art 


Greek 
ignorance 
of  anatomv. 


mind  and  give  repose  to  the  feelings  by  the  strict  chas- 
tity of  their  forms  and  the  ideal  perfection  of  their 
designs. 

This  unique  phenomenon  in  history  is  most  easily 
seen,  of  course,  in  those  products  where  pure  form  is 
There  is  not  the  smallest  question 
about  the  products  of  Greek  sculpture  from  Phidias, 
who  walked  with  Pericles,  to  Lysippus,  who  added 
glory  to  Alexander  the  Great.  We  have  but  scanty  re- 
mains of  it,  or  else  Roman  copies,  which  are  but  faithful 
translations  of  the  originals  with  the  anxiety  of  the  copy- 
ist marring  the  freedom  of  the  conception.  But  this  is 
enough,  quite  enough,  to  tell  us  that  no  medieval 
or  modern  sculptor  has  ever  approached  their  excellence 
in  treating  ideal  humanity.  They  did  not  dissect  the  hu- 
man body  ;  they  had  no  lessons  in  anatomy,  such  as  the 
modern  sculptor  may  attend,  to  show  him  the  accurate 
working  of  joints,  the  play  of  muscle,  the  secrets  of 
nature  in  raising  a  machine  into  an  organism.  But  the 
daily  experience  of  youths  in  the  palestrae,  the  study 
of  the  nude  in  the  other  sex,  in  a  society  and  a  climate 
where  the  nude  was  not  shocking,  and  therefore  not  ex- 
ceptional, gave  them  knowledge  enough  to  set  the 
criticism  of  the  most  careful  modern  anatomist  at  de- 
fiance, and  prove  to  him  that  it  is  not  science,  but 
art,  which  solves  problems,  which  understands  mys- 
teries, so  far  as  its  province  is  concerned. 

But  the  isolated  figure  only  affords  us  a  small  idea  of 
this  classical  sculpture.  When  we  consider  the  compo- 
ibr  composition  sition  of  a  frieze,  the  bringing  into  harmony  the  variety 
of  many  figures,  the  various  attitudes,  such  as  we  have 
them  in  the  Parthenon  frieze,  or  in  the  Attic  tomb- 
reliefs,  then  their  sense  of  beauty,  of  proportion,  of  free 
symmetry,  strikes  us  with  even  greater  wonder.     We 


20S 


A  Survey  of  Greek  Civilization. 


Poverty  of  art 
instincts  of  the 
present  age 
illustrated  by 
architecture. 


The  Parthenon 
i  model  for  all 
periods. 


shall  revert  in  due  time  to  an  instance  of  this  composi- 
tion (on  the  great  sarcophagus  of  Sidon)  as  well  as 
to  the  perfection  of  a  single  figure  (the  Venus  of  Melos), 
which  prove  that  these  secrets  were  not  lost  as  suddenly 
as  they  were  found,  and  that  even  late  into  the  Hellenis- 
tic decadence  men  were  able  to  appreciate  and  even 
to  reproduce  the  beauties  of  truly  classical  sculpture. 
The  case  is  nearly  as  clear  in  architecture,  though  here 
many  other  nations,  ancient  and  modern,  have  sup- 
plied us  with  other  splendid  models,  which  we  can 
copy,  but  cannot  rival  by  any  new  creation  of  style. 
It  is  the  most  singular  proof  of  the  poverty  of  the  art  in- 
stincts of  our  century  that  in  an  age  where  not  only  the 
science  of  mechanical  construction,  but  the  control  of 
new  materials,  has  attained  a  pitch  unheard  of  before,  all 
this  new  power  has  not  taught  us  to  apply  it  in  a 
new  way,  or  in  a  style  either  original  or  beautiful.  Thus 
the  conquest  of  iron  as  a  building  material  in  our 
century  ought  to  have  produced  a  distinctive  style, 
as  much  as  the  conquest  of  Pentelic  marble  did  in 
the  days  of  Ictinus  and  Mnesicles,  the  great  builders  on 
the  Athenian  Acropolis.  But  it  is  not  so.  Our  iron 
buildings  imitate  older  designs,  they  copy  Renaissance 
ornaments,  compound  and  contort  old  ideas  into  some- 
thing pretending  to  be  new,  but  it  is  only  a  pretense. 
"For  the  old  is  better."  If  any  city  in  the  world  could 
now  secure  for  one  of  its  public  buildings  an  exact 
replica  of  the  Parthenon,  it  would  at  once  be  recognized 
as  the  most  peerless  and  perfect  thing  which  that  city 
could  procure.  We  know  also  that  the  cost  of  it 
now  would  be  almost  fabulous.  And  though  the  temples 
in  Egypt  are  splendid,  they  have  become  antiquated 
to  modern  taste.  No  one  would  now  seek  to  reproduce 
them  on  a  large  scale,   any  more  than  we  should  re- 


The  Fourth   Century  B.C.  209 

produce  Chinese  pagodas.  But  the  Parthenon  would  be 
no  more  antiquated  than  the  English  of  the  Bible  is  anti- 
quated, for  we  have  had  our  artistic  taste  fed  on  it  from 
our  infancy,  nationally  and  individually.  Therefore  the 
Romans  tried  to  adopt  it,  and  the  men  of  the  Renais- 
sance, and  since  that  time  we  also,  though  not  one  of  us 
even  understood  the  plan  till  Mr.  Penrose  explained 
it  to  us  in  his   "Athenian  Architecture." 

Nor  were    these   wonderful    people    confined    to  one 

.        ,  Ionic  style  in 

strict  style.     We  have  what  is  called  the  Ionic,  suited  to   architecture. 

smaller  and  more  decorated  buildings,  still  showing  blue 

and  gold  on  the  ceilings,  still  showing  delicate  tracing 

round  door-frames.     And  just  at  the  close  of  the  epoch 

we  have  the  still  richer  Corinthian,  which  so  took  the  Corinthian. 

fancy  of  the  Romans,  and  indeed  of  the  Hellenistic  age 

which  the  Romans  copied,  that  we  might  fairly  call  it 

the    Graeco-Roman    order,    with    which    the    emperor 

Hadrian  adorned  not  only  Greece  but  the  whole  Roman 

world,  from  Palmyra  to  Spain. 

Their  painting  and  their  music  are  gone,  and  it  may 
be  that  these  men,  so  perfect  in  some  forms  of  art,  were 
not  perfect  in  all,  and  that  this  loss  had  tended  to  raise 
them  in  our  estimation.  But  if  musical  faculty  consists 
in  the  rhythm  of  language,  in  delicately  constructed 
periods,  in  expressive  meters,  then  we  must  hold  that 
the  Greeks  of  the  fourth  century  B.  C.  had  the  most  fonthe  beauty- 
exquisite  feeling  for  the  beauty  and  symmetry  of  sound. 
Even  in  our  miserable  modern  pigeon-Greek,  which 
represents  no  real  pronunciation,  either  ancient  or 
modern,  the  lyrics  of  Sophocles  or  Aristophanes  are 
unmistakably  lovely  poetry  ;  the  dialogues  in  inter- 
changed lyrics  and  iambics  in  Euripides  dramatic 
beyond  all  modern  parallel. 

But  form  is  after  all  but  the  lesser  side  of  literary  art. 


of  sound. 


2io  A  Survey  of  Greek  Civilization. 


What   were  the    ideas  which   these    people  clothed   in 
Lofty  ideas         such  exquisite  dress  ?     Were  they  ideas  commonplace, 

combined  with  »  »  * 

perfection  of  unworthy,  even  provincial,  special,  not  fit  for  trans- 
ference into  modern  life?  Far  from  it.  The  first  and 
greatest  Athenian  poet  who  comes  before  the  golden 
age  of  literature,  yEschylus,  has  indeed  such  vast  con- 
ceptions that  his  utterance  at  times  fails  him,  and 
though  a  hundred  imitators  have  essayed  to  give  us  his 
"Agamemnon,"  it  still  remains  half  revealed  to  us  in 
its  mysterious  gloom.  But  when  we  come  to  Sophocles, 
though  the  subject  of  his  greatest  tragedy  is  hardly 
more  fit  for  modern  taste  than  Shelley's  "Cenci,"  yet 
in  every  line  of  it  there  is  refinement,  there  are  beauty 
and  fitness  of  expression,  there  is  such  an  avoidance  of 
dread  details  as  shows  the  perfect  artist,  and  with  all 
the  richness  of  this  work,  with  all  the  lyric  splendor  of 
the  odes,  the  pathetic  dignity  of  the  dialogue,  there  is 
one  feature  common  to  the  architecture,  the  poetry,  the 
sculpture,  the  eloquence — its  chastity  in  style. 

I  know  not  by  what  other  word  I  can  designate  this 

Greekes?yi"  J  "  essentially  classical  feature,  which  means  the  absence  of 
all  that  is  tawdry,  the  absence  even  of  all  that  we  could 
call  florid,  a  certain  severity  and  reticence  which  are  as 
marked  in  the  prose  of  Thucydides  as  they  are  in  the 
marble  of  Phidias.     The  art  of  Euripides  was  censured 

ofthesCtyieCofm   b>f  tlie  older  school  of  this  century  as  deficient  in  this 

Euripides.  quality  :    he   sought,    they  said,    to    excite   pathos   too 

directly  and  violently,  instead  of  purifying  such  emo- 
tions of  the  soul  by  exercising  them  on  high  and  pure 
ideas,  far  from  the  vulgarities  of  life.  But  if  this  be  so, 
he  surely  sought  to  gain  in  breadth  what  he  may  have 
lost  in  height  ;  he  desired  to  bring  the  more  common 
phases  of  life  into  the  tragic  dignity  ;  he  sought,  too,  to 
infuse  into  his  dialogue  touches  of  that  deeper  philoso- 


The  Fourth   Century  B.  C.  211 


phy  which  had  hitherto  been  a  stranger  to  the  stage. 
For  Euripides  was  the  friend  of  Anaxagoras,  whose  gggjjg**0' 
rationalism  attracted  Pericles  and  the  higher  spirits,  but 
excited  the  persecutions  of  the  crowd.  Such  meat  was 
too  strong  for  babes  in  metaphysics  ;  it  was  through 
the  pores  of  their  intellectual  skin  that  Euripides  admin- 
istered the  medicine  that  they  would  not  or  could  not 
drink.  He  was  the  spiritual  friend  also  of  Socrates, 
whose  great  home  mission  must  have  affected  him  with 
deep  sympathy,  though  we  do  not  hear  of  any  close 
intercourse  between  the  recluse  of  the  study  and  the 
missionary  who  spent  his  life  in  the  streets. 

These  were  the  men  who  led  the  way  in  the  second  Plat0-smastery 
half  of  our  period  to  the  divine  philosophy  of  Plato,  of  sty,e- 
which  combines  with  the  purest  and  loftiest  thinking 
that  perfection  of  form  not  since  equalled,  and  places 
that  great  spirit  not  only  among  the  deepest  thinkers, 
but  the  most  perfect  artists  of  all  time.  The  old  fashion 
of  presenting  philosophical  systems  in  poetic  form, 
which  had  been  that  of  Parmenides,  of  Empedocles,  of 
Democritus — how  splendid  such  poetry  can  be,  we 
know  from  the  reproduction  by  Lucretius — now  gave 
way  forever  to  the  treatment  in  prose  ;  but,  as  if  to 
show  us  how  this  classical  period  was  destined  to  out- 
strip in  everything  later  and  lesser  epochs,  all  the  subse-  His  gtyle  never 
quent  essays  in  prose  philosophy  never  attained  to  ggfjj}^ 
Plato's  perfection.  There  have  since  been  great  phi- 
losophers ;  there  have  since  been  great  prose  writers  ; 
but  never  has  the  combination  been  so  admirable  ;  not 
even  in  the  dialogues  of  our  greatest  English  masters,  of 
whom  Bishop  Berkeley  alone  may  be  called  a  worthy 
follower  and  pupil  of  Plato,  but  very  far  indeed  from  a 
rival. 

Is  it  not  the  most  wonderful  evidence  of  the  absolute 


212  A  Survey  of  Greek   Civilization. 

superiority  of  this  matchless  century,  that  in  such  a  sub- 
ject, where  subsequent  thinking,  subsequent  discoveries, 
subsequent  advances  in  science  have  corrected  so  much 
of  what  Plato  thought,  and  added  so  much  to  what 
Plato  said,  not  a  single  master  has  ever  given  us  a  life- 
Greek  perfec-      work  to  compare  in  its  artistic  perfection  with  this  clas- 

tion  in  all  their  r  .     .         .  .       , 

artistic  work.  sical  edifice  of  philosophy  ?  So  it  is  with  the  forensic 
eloquence,  so  it  seems  to  be  wherever  the  Greeks  of  that 
day  chose  to  show  us  a  model  of  artistic  work. 

We  must  not  weary  of  repeating  these  things  in  a 
concerted  and  self-conscious  age,  among  people  who 
imagine  that  the  great  conquests  over  matter  in  our 
century  imply  great  conquests  in  the  domain  of  mind. 
But  science  is  not  art  ;  science  is  not  human  life  ;  science 
is  not  perhaps  even  the  best  highroad  to  happiness, 
though  it  may  be  to  material  comfort. 

On  the  other  hand,  I  am  not  sure  that  the  perfect  ap- 

Appreciation  of    preciation  of  the  beautiful  has  as  yet,  in  any  society, 

the  beautiful  r  ,        .  .  £ 

does  not  imply     implied  what  it  ought  to  impiv,  the  keenest  pursuit  ot 

pursuit  of  the  r  ,  .... 

good.  the  good,  and  I  at  least  have  maintained  tor  many  years 

the  position  that  the  average  Greeks  of  this  time  were 
not  wonders  of  beauty,  delicacy,  and  refinement  in  their 
every-day  life.  To  me  it  is  chimerical  to  assert  that  the 
average  young  Spartan  or  Athenian  was  like  the  ideal 
figure  of  Phidias  and  Praxiteles  ;  these  great  men  knew 
how  to  idealize  better  than  our  sculptors  do,  which 
means  that  from  ordinary  men  and  women  they  were 
able  to  draw  types  of  what  was  better  and  more  splen- 
did, that  like  Virgil  copying  from  Aratus,*  the  transla- 
tion while  faithful  was  far  purer  and  more  poetical  than 
skSscu?pture  the  original.      Had    our  sculptors    been    transferred    to 

nusiead"us.  those  studios,  they  would  probably  not  have  found 
models  as  perfect  as  any  sculptor  might  now  find  if  he 

*  in  his  "Georgics,"  concerning  the  signs  of  weather. 


The  Fourth  Century  B.C.  213 

went  to  study  the  play  of  limb  and  muscle  among  the 
naked  and  free  islanders  of  Fiji  or  Samoa.  The  average 
thinker  on  philosophical  subjects  was  probably  far  in- 
ferior to  the  average  that  might  now  be  met  in  any  cul- 
tivated society,  and  yet  Plato,  with  few  and  imperfect 
models,  passed  beyond  mere  imitation  to  the  creation  of 
something  far  beyond  their  dictation. 

This  is  the  feature  which  so  many  learned  students  of  Greek  genius 
Greek  life  seem  to  me  to  have  misunderstood  ;  it  is  the  JJ^SS  Us 
long  distance  between  the  artist  who  has  genius  and  the 
ordinary  facts  which  inspire  his  work.  I  am  not  sure 
that  it  is  wise  to  pry  into  the  back  scenes  of  any  great 
play.  The  modern  fashion,  which  we  find  among  the 
later  Greeks,  of  adorning  the  person  of  the  artist  and 
searching  greedily  into  his  private  life  is  a  vulgar  and 
mischievous  taste,  quite  foreign  to  what  is  really  noble 
in  art.  For  the  real  genius  of  the  worker  is  in  his 
spirit,  not  in  his  "  muddy  nature  of  decay,"  it  comes  to 
us  in  his  work,  though  his  personality  is  sometimes 
mean,  sometimes  even  odious.  The  student  of  history 
and  of  art  has  no  concern  with  these  things,  if  he  can 
but  take  from  each  man  or  each  age  the  purest  and  best 
that  that  man  or  age  has  produced.  It  is  therefore  to 
be  remembered  that  no  foibles  or  failings  which  we  find 
in  the  men  of  Plato's  or  of  Demosthenes' s  age  can  mar 
the  classical  perfection  of  what  they  have  produced. 
But  some  knowledge  of  these  foibles  may  even  enhance 
our  appreciation  of  their  art,  for  it  may  show  us  how  far 
thev  rose  out  of  their  every-day  surroundings,  and  how   The  genius  of 

J  ..  the  Greeks 

it  mav  vet  be  possible  for  another  age  to   manliest  an-   glorified 

J    J  r  ••111     commonplace 

other  such  burst  of  immortal  genius,  without  the  total  surroundings, 
reformation   of   society,    without   the   fulfilment   of   the 
dream    of   the   socialist,    that    the  whole  mass   of   men 
should  be  raised  to  so  exceptional  a  level. 


214  -^  Survey  of  Greek   Civilization. 


The  world  moments  of  great  art  are  like  those  brilliant 
Greeklffenot  constellations  which  occur  at  long  intervals  in  the  starry 
bythegeniused  heavens.  The  whole  ground  as  we  sec  it,  though  made 
of  a  few.  Up  0{  innumerable  lights,  is  dark  and  only  studded  with 

some  isolated  luminaries.  Here  and  there,  there  is  a 
brilliant  group,  but  these  do  not  make  any  change  in 
the  background,  unless  it  is  that  they  obscure  the  lesser 
lights  which  are  beside  them.  The  floor  of  heaven 
shows  nothing  but  consistent  gloom.  So  it  is  with  the 
background  of  human  history.  Up  to  the  present  day 
it  is  only  the  few  that  have  ever  made  the  glory  of  a  so- 
ciety :  the  masses,  even  the  classes,  have  contributed  in 
some  cases  encouragement,  in  many  more  hindrances 
and  obstacles  to  the  rise  of  genius.  Average  human  \ 
nature  has  in  all  ages  been  a  poor  and  vulgar  thing,  and 
I  do  not  think  that  even  the  brilliant  Athens  of  Pericles 
was  more  than  a  partial  exception  to  this  sad  rule. 

These  are  the  considerations  with  which  I  desire  to 
of  the  picture.  e  introduce  a  few  remarks  on  the  lesser  and  lower  side  of 
Greek  life,  even  at  Athens,  at  this  memorable  time.  It 
is  not  for  the  sake  of  carping  at  the  shady  side  of 
splendor,  or  of  bringing  down  the  achievements  of  these 
people  to  the  level  of  our  own.  Far  from  it.  But  when 
rightly  understood  it  will  complete  our  picture  by  show- 
ing us  that  we  are  dealing  with  no  race  of  superior 
beings  "delicately  marching  through  the  most  pellucid 
air,"  but  with  men  of  like  passions  with  ourselves,  and  l 
in  some  respects  worse  than  we  have  learned  to  be, 
though  in  others  vastly  our  superiors.  History  shows 
no  steady  and  systematic  advance  from  barbarism  to 
semi-barbarism,  from  semi-barbarism  to  lower,  then  to 
higher  civilization,  but  a  chronicle  of  brilliant  beginnings 
that  were  but  dreams,  of  splendid  hopes  that  turned  to 
disappointment,   of  eras  which  heralded  a  great  future 


The  Fourth   Century  B.   C.  215 


and  turned  to  decay.  Even  as  individual  genius  com- 
monly springs  from  obscure  parents,  and  produces 
obscure  children,  so  epochs  grow  suddenly  splendid 
and  yet  produce  no  offspring  worthy  of  their  greatness. 
The  first  thing  that  meets  a  modern  reader  when  he 
studies  the  history  of  the  Golden  Age  of  Greece  is  the   Cruelty  of 

J  °  Greeks  to  slaves 

constant   occurrence   of   cruelty.      Not    only  are  slaves   and  prisoners. 

constantly    put  to   the  torture   when    required   to  give 

evidence,  as  if  they  were  unable  otherwise  to  speak  the 

truth,  but  we  find  in  war  that  it  is  quite  usual,  even  for 

the   Athenians   who   boast    of   their   humanity,    to    put 

prisoners   to    death  in  cold  blood.      I    have  indeed  by 

an  emendation  which  I  consider  certain  removed  from 

the  text  of  Thucydides  what  seemed  the  most  horrible 

instance  :     After   the   public  assembly   at    Athens    had 

actually  decreed  that  the  whole  adult  male  population 

of  Mytilene,   subdued  after  a  revolt,  should  be  put  to 

death,  and  this  cruel  vote  which  affected  five  thousand 

lives   had   been    rescinded,    and   the   execution    of   the 

decree  stopped  at  the  last  moment,  the  historian  says 

quietly  :   "  The  ringleaders,  however,  the  Athenians  put 

to  death,  and  they  were  more  than  a  thousand."      Hap-   of  Thucydides. 

pily  I  was  able  to  show  that  the  early  signs  for  1,  4,  and 

30  were  constantly  confused  in  early  cursive  writing, 

and  that  in  the  present  case  A ,  which  is  30,  must  have 

been   mistaken  for  A,  and  then  made  into  '^,  which  is 

the  sign  for  1,000. 

But  there  can  be  little  doubt  about  atrocities  fully  as 
great  at  the  close  of  what  we  may  call  the  ' '  Thirty  massacre  of 
Years'  War,"  when  Lysander  and  the  Lacedaemonians  spartan", 
put  to  death  in  cold  blood  over  three  thousand  Athenian 
prisoners  on  the  shore  of  the  Hellespont.  During  the 
course  of  that  war  the  Plataean  prisoners  of  war  had 
been  executed  one  by  one  with  similar  atrocity.      I  need 


2l6 


A  Survey  of  Greek   Civilization. 


Greed  and 
jealousy  of  the 
Greeks. 


Candor  of Soc- 
rates would 
not  have  been 
tolerated  in 
politics. 


Their  rapacity 
blinds  Greeks 
to  questions  of 
right  and 
wrong. 


not  delay  upon  this   painful  subject  ;  the  facts  in  these 
latter  cases  seem  to  be  indisputable. 

Not  less  disagreeable  though  less  shocking  is  the 
ingrained  grasping  and  jealousy  of  the  Greek  nature, 
shown  in  their  politics,  both  home  and  foreign,  all 
through  the  epoch.  It  was  indeed  the  fashion  still  to 
appeal  to  the  gods  and  to  the  cause  of  justice,  but  these 
appeals  were  never  regarded,  and  seem  quite  idle  except 
to  excite  odium  against  the  aggressor.  For  the  founda- 
tions of  honor  and  mercy  are  laid  so  deep  in  all  human 
nature  that  no  course  of  crime  seems  able  to  eradicate 
them  ;  there  were,  moreover,  in  Greece  always  great 
individuals  who  still  kept  alive  among  men  the  high 
standard  which  the  old  poets  and  moralists  had 
preached.  But  greed  and  jealousy  seem  always  to  be 
there,  as  they  are  in  some  of  the  modern  nations  of 
Europe. 

When  Plato  puts  into  the  mouth  of  Socrates  that 
noble  defense  of  his  mission  called  the  "  Apologia,"  he 
replies  to  the  question  why  so  constant  a  teacher  and 
preacher  had  not  taken  to  politics  and  given  advice  to 
the  Athenians  in  public  affairs,  by  saying  that  had  he 
done  so,  he  would  have  been  exiled  or  put  to  death 
long  ago,  because  the  assembly  would  not  tolerate  any 
adviser  who  resisted  their  passions  and  censured  their 
injustice. 

If  this  be  true  of  the  Athenian  assembly,  how  much 
more  must  it  have  been  so  with  inferior  states  ?  The 
cold-blooded  selfishness  of  Spartan  policy  is  even  more 
repulsive  than  the  passionate  outrages  of  the  Athenian. 
Even  still  piracy  was  regarded  rather  as  adventurous 
than  criminal,  and  the  Attic  navy  kept  the  seas  clear  not 
because  the  "vintage  of  the  sea"  was  regarded  as 
criminal  and  cruel,  but  because  it  interfered  with  com- 


The  Fourth   Century  B.   C. 


217 


Indifference  of 
Hellenes  to  the 


mercial  enterprise.  No  Greek  state  would  have  felt  the 
smallest  qualms  of  conscience  at  permitting  pirates  to 
make  a  descent  upon  a  rival  or  unfriendly  city's  coasts. 
In  the  same  way  it  was  not  regarded  that  any  non- 
Hellenic  state,  especially  the  realm  of  the  Persian  king,  i&J1tesn°J°on" 
had  any  rights  whatever  against  Greek  aggression  and 
Greek  rapacity.  The  calm  and  polished  Isocrates  thinks 
it  perfectly  legitimate  to  unite  all  Greece  in  an  attack 
upon  Persia,  regardless  of  all  treaties,  "  in  order  that 
poor  Greeks  may  be  enriched,  and  that  the  barbarians 
may  think  less  of  themselves."  All  this  was  contempo- 
raneous with  the  pure  morals  of  Socrates  and  the  lofty 
metaphysic  of  Plato. 

But  if  the  artists,  as  I  have  explained,  had  created 
ideals  far  above  their  models  in  ordinary  life,  so  the 
philosophers  had  soared  far  beyond  the  clouds  and  mists 
of  ordinary  morals.  The  whole  picture  then  is  un- 
pleasant, but  not  unnatural.  In  the  present  day  we 
have  known  artists  of  consummate  skill,  and  with  a  very 
refined  sense  of  beauty,  yet  anything  but  pure  or  lofty  - 
in  their  lives.  The  pursuit  of  the  beautiful  is  not  yet 
identical  with  the  pursuit  of  the  good,  and  in  some 
senses  only  with  the  pursuit  of  the  true. 

Some  of  the  causes  of  these  grave  defects  are  not  far  Some  causes  of 

the  Greek  lack 

to  seek.      I   will   not    pretend    to   say    that    they   are  of  moral  sense. 

adequate  to  explain  all.      For  the  differences  of  national 

character  are  so  deep  set,  and  so  obscure,  that  it  were 

idle  to  attempt  any  complete  explanation.      Among  the 

first  we  may  place  the  attitude  of  women,  who  were  in 

most  Greek   states  brought   up,  as  Xenophon  says,  in 

silence  and  in  fear,  at  Sparta,  on  the  contrary,  in  license 

and  insubordination,   so  that  although  to  philosophers 

they  seemed  a  model  for  the  arrangements  of  their  ideal 

states,  to  ordinary  Greeks  their  license  seemed  rather  a 


218 


A  Survey  of  Greek  Civilization. 


Secluded  life 
and  inferior 
position 
of  women. 


Lack  of 
kindliness. 


Exposure 
of  infants. 


Spartan  eccentricity  than  a  thing  to  be  copied  or 
desired.  This  absence  of  the  moral  influence  of  women, 
who  lived  and  thought  apart,  and  whose  private  life  was 
suspected  of  many  disorders  which  we  cannot  establish 
or  gainsay,  had,  I  believe,  a  great  effect  in  making 
Greek  life  hard  and  unlovely.  The  angel  of  the  house, 
who  allays  so  much  strife,  who  sets  the  example  of  so 
much  unselfishness,  who  protects  the  feeble  and  the  sick, 
was  wanting  there.  The  gentleness  of  modern  life  is 
not  the  gentleness  of  the  Greeks.  No  man  was  ever 
sounder  in  morals  than  Socrates,  yet  there  is  a  strange 
want  of  kindness  about  him.  In  his  great  dying  scene 
his  wife  and  children  are  sent  away  as  an  obstacle  to 
noble  talk  ;  as  a  mere  annoyance,  with  their  lamentation 
and  their  tears  !  Could  anything  be  more  significant  of 
the  contrast  of  which  I  speak  ? 

Those  who  had  most  effect  upon  society  were  women 
like  Sappho  or  Aspasia,  who  combined  with  a  high 
intellect  and  a  thorough  education  a  life  unrestrained  by 
ordinary  moral  considerations.  We  might  put  it  in  a 
paradox  and  say  that  they  were  in  society  and  influenced 
society,  because  they  were  out  of  society.  If  the  habit 
of  exposing  infants  was  indeed  common,  and  the  evi- 
dence on  this  point  is  usually  thought  conclusive,  can  we 
conceive  anything  more  brutalizing  and  searing  to  the 
natural  instinct  of  affection  of  any  young  mother  than  to 
have  her  new-born  infant  taken  from  her,  and  thrown  to 
the  ravens  and  the  wolves  ?  And  yet  it  is  very  hard  to 
evade  the  statements  not  only  that  such  conduct  was 
strictly  legal,  but  that  it  frequently  occurred.  I  person- 
ally still  feel  skeptical,  for  I  know  not  in  actual  history  of 
any  case  where  such  an  infant  was  picked  up,  or  where 
exposure  of  this  kind  is  said  to  have  been  perpetrated  by 
a  person  with  a  name.      But  in  Greek  fiction,  from  the 


The  Fourth   Century  B.  C. 


219 


early  legends  down  to  the  comedies  of  Menander,  it 
is  the  constant  background  of  a  story.  This  at  least 
shows  that  it  was  tolerated  by  Greek  sentiment,  and 
is  another  proof  of  the  hardness  of  their  hearts. 

It  is  quite  possible  that  the  habit  of  keeping  slaves 
may  have  had  much  to  do  with  this  inhumanity  in 
the  life  of  ancient  nations.  Men  are  not  regardless 
of  the  rights  of  human  beings  in  one  relation  without  the 
penalty  of  falling  into  general  callousness.  The  inflict- 
ing of  pain  on  others,  unless  it  be  opposed  by  a  sen- 
timent of  horror,  is  not  likely  to  be  checked  by  rational 
considerations  or  by  legislation.  I  suppose  that  to 
their  domestic  animals  these  people  were  also  cruel. 
The  urgent  speed  at  which  the  Parthenon  and  the  Pro- 
pylsea  were  built  probably  entailed  horrible  suffering  on 
countless  slaves  and  countless  beasts  of  burden.  We 
wonder  at  the  purity  and  perfection  of  the  design  ; 
we  forget  the  tears  and  the  blood  shed  in  the  labor  of 
the  building.  We  know  very  well  that  in  many  cases 
the  slave  was  well  treated,  that  he  became  the  confidant, 
even  the  friend  of  his  master.  Euripides  turns  aside 
constantly  to  show  upon  his  stage  the  faithfulness  of  the 
slave  who  really  owed  his  master  nothing  but  his  manual 
labor.  Increasing  refinement,  if  not  humanity,  must 
have  revolted  against  continuous  and  barbarous  punish- 


Slavery  a  cause 
of  inhumanity. 


Certain 
redeeming 
features  of 
slavery  do  not 

ments,  and  houses  where  the  lash  and  the  cry  of  anguish  possibilities  of 
were  often  heard  must  have  been  avoided  because  it  was 
coarse  and  disagreeable,  if  not  because  it  was  tyrannous 
and  unjust  to  exercise  such  barbarous  control.  But  the 
frightful  possibilities  were  always  there,  though  we  have 
no  Greek  "Uncle  Tom's  Cabin"  to  display  them  to  us. 
Such,  then,  is  my  estimate  of  this  wonderful  moment 
in  the  world's  history.  I  have  striven  to  avoid  all  exag- 
geration, to  get  rid  of  the  prejudices  of  the  pedant,  the 


220 


A  Survey  of  Greek  Civilization. 


Death  ofPhilip 
and  fall  of 
Demosthenes 
mark  the  end 
of  a  political 
phase. 


The  wide- 
spread neglect 
of  post-classical 
writers. 


Spread  of  Greek 
language  a 

natural  cause  of 
loss  of  precision 
and  delicacy. 


strong  and  just  prepossessions  of  the  Christian  ;  what- 
ever was  there  to  censure  and  to  blame,  I  have  not 
scrupled  to  put  it  forward,  and  take  discount  from 
the  sum  of  the  obligations  under  which  the  Greeks  have 
laid  us.  And  I  have  paused  here,  in  the  middle  of 
my  work,  to  make  up  the  account,  because  there  is 
in  Greek  history,  with  the  death  of  Philip,  with  the  col- 
lapse of  Demosthenes' s  policy,  a  strange  and  complete 
halt,  and  a  new  beginning,  which  broke  completely  with 
the  past. 

The  Greece  known  in  our  schools  and  colleges  is  only 
the  older  Greece,  before  it  really  came  to  influence 
a  large  part  of  the  world.  Because  the  style  of  Thucyd- 
ides  and  Xenophon  is  purer  than  that  of  Polybius  and 
of  Plutarch,  these  latter,  great  and  instructive  as  they 
are,  have  no  place  in  the  education  of  our  youth.  I 
need  not  point  out  to  any  educated  man  how  false 
this  perspective  is,  how  in  earlier  times  Plutarch  in- 
fluenced the  greatest  men,  or  was  justly  esteemed 
the  most  precious  possession  left  us  by  the  Greeks.  It 
is  high  time  that  all  partial  views  of  this  kind  should  be 
laid  aside,  and  that  as  we  admire  the  Parthenon  and  its 
matchless  relief,  so  we  should  also  wonder  at  the  Nike 
of  Samothrace  and  the  Greek  tomb  of  the  king  of  Sidon 
at  Constantinople,  not  to  say  the  Venus  of  Melos,  all  of 
them  work  inferior  to  nothing  that  Hellenic  sculpture 
has  left  us.  In  language,  indeed,  the  very  fact  that  the 
knowledge  of  Greek  spread  to  various  foreign  lands 
made  it  necessary  that  some  of  the  exquisite  refinement 
of  Plato  or  Demosthenes  should  be  lost.  Any  language 
which  aspires  to  be  a  Wcltsprache  (world-language),  as 
the  Germans  say,  must  sacrifice  much  of  its  delicacy,  its 
shades  of  meaning  expressed  by  many  synonyms  and 
particles  and  tenses,  which  the  foreigner  in  his  hurry  and 


The  Fourth   Century  B.C.  221 

without  contact  with  natives  cannot  be  expected  to 
master.  But  the  very  power  of  accommodation  in  the 
Greeks  was  one  of  the  most  wonderful  features  in 
the  people.  For  though  exceedingly  proud,  though 
despising  other  languages  and  compelling  all  those  who 
aspired  to  their  civilization  to  be  at  pains  to  learn  their 
tongue — no  small  effort  before  the  day  of  scientific 
grammars — they  yet  so  accommodated  themselves  to 
Macedonian,  Syrian,  Roman  masters  that  they  became  Greek 
indispensable  in  the  household,  or  the  diplomatic,  or  the 
military,  service  of  all  these  nations. 

These  are  the  reasons  that  the  present  book,  depart- 
ing from  the  usual  practice,  will  devote  a  large  space  to 
the  development  of  Hellenistic  (as  opposed  to  Hellenic) 
culture  through  and  in  consequence  of  the  conquests  of 
Alexander  and  the  sovereignties  of  his  successors. 

It  is  not  a  little  curious  how  much  more  attractive,  at 
first  sight,  the  later  work  was  than  the  earlier  and 
purer.  When  the  discoveries  of  the  Renaissance  burst 
upon  Europe,  it  was  the  Apollo  Belvedere,  the  Farnese 
Hercules,  the  Venus  de  Medici,  and  the  architecture  of 
Hadrian  which  fascinated  the  world.  To  men  like 
Raphael  and  Michael  Angelo,  the  Parthenon  and  the  Neglect  of 
Temple  of  Paestum  were  things  unknown  and  neglected,  purercfreek 
while  all  their  enthusiasm  was  reserved  for  the  work  since  period!" 
which  the  Romans  had  borrowed  from  Pergamum, 
Rhodes,  and  Alexandria  during  what  is  called  the 
"period  of  Greek  decadence."  They  did  not  even 
appreciate  the  difference  which  we  think  so  striking 
between  the  few  genuine  pieces  of  old  Greek  work  and 
the  feebler  though  more  ornate  work  of  the  later  epoch. 
If  any  one  is  tempted  to  judge  these  men  of  the  Renais- 
sance harshly,  let  him  remember  that  the  most  cultivated 
Romans,  who  had  before  them  all  the  splendor  of  the 


A  Survey  of  Greek  Civilization. 


Golden  Age  intact,  nevertheless  both  in  literature  and 
in  art  long  preferred  the  later  models,  and  copied 
from  Parthenius  and  Callimachus,  from  Tauriscus  and 
Pasiteles,  long  before  they  were  led  to  believe  that  the 
older  work  was  better.  Even  then  they  went  to  the 
Parallel  of  the      opposite  extreme,  and  preferred  archaic  things  because 

Roman  attitude  . 

to  the  art  of  the   they  were  stiff  and   odd  to  the  perfect    moment  when 

Golden  Age.  J 

archaic  modesty  and  reserve  are  combined  with  modern 
grace  and  mastery  of  material.  So  difficult  is  it  to  judge 
correctly  of  the  work  of  our  predecessors. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

THE   TIME   OF    ALEXANDER    THE    GREAT   AND    HIS 
EARLY     SUCCESSORS.* 


Perhaps  the  best  way  to  approach  the  work  which 
Alexander  did  for  Greek  civilization  and  to  estimate  its 
value  is  to  speculate  for  a  moment  on  what  would 
possibly  have  happened  had  he  not  come  to  the  throne. 
It  is  idle  to  say  that  Greece  was  free  during  the  closing 
years  of  his  father  Philip's  reign.  That  able  prince  had 
shown  clearly  that  with  the  aid  of  a  hardy  nation  of 
mountaineers  devoted  to  his  house,  with  money  to  hire 
troops  of  mercenaries,  with  the  chiefs  of  Thessaly 
supplying  him  with  cavalry,  all  chance  of  real  inde- 
pendence was  gone  for  a  set  of  small  states  which  were 
mutually  jealous,  mutually  distrustful,  and  which  were 
each  quite  ready  to  call  him  in  to  settle  its  quarrels, 
provided  he  would  humble  its  rivals.  All  this  was 
plainly  seen  by  Isocrates  in  Philip's  lifetime,  as  we  may 
see  from  his  "  Letter  to  Philip,"  already  commented  on. 
We  may  therefore  say  with  confidence  that  all  possibility 
of  a  great  and  united  Greece,  observing  the  independ- 
ence of  each  state  and  combining  against  every  com- 
mon enemy,  was  gone.  This  was  of  course  the  ideal 
condition  of  which  many  had  dreamed. 

Hardly  more  practical  was  the  notion  that  Greece 
should  be  led  by  one  dominant  power,  which  should 
guide  all  foreign  policy,  while  internal  affairs  were  left 


Alexander's 
influence  on 
Greek  civil- 
ization. 


Impossibility 
of  a  united 
Greece. 


*  All  this  period  has  been  treated  in  fuller  detail  in  my  "Greek  Life  and 
Thought   from   Alexander  to  the  Roman   Conquest  "   (2d   edition). 


224 


A  Survey  of  Greek   Civilization. 


Greek  dislike 
of  a  hegemony. 


Gloomy  politi- 
cal outlook. 


to  the  individual  cities.  Three  leading  states  had 
attempted  this  :  first  Sparta,  then  Athens,  then  Sparta 
again,  then  Thebes.  In  every  case,  except  the  first, 
the  dominant  power  had  at  once  taken  advantage  of  its 
leading  position  to  gratify  private  jealousies,  to  avenge 
old  griefs,  to  enrich  private  citizens  at  the  expense  of 
the  lesser  states.  And  in  every  case  this  sort  of  federa- 
tion under  a  leading  power  showed  symptoms  of 
becoming  a  tyranny,  an  irresponsible  rule  by  the 
military  power  which  could  coerce  if  it  could  not 
persuade.  Hence  the  growing  feeling  in  Greece  had 
been  against  such  hegemony,  as  they  called  it,  and  in 
favor  of  autonomy,  or  home  rule,  in  every  city  state. 
There  were  indeed  a  few  exceptions  among  the  poorer 
and  more  insignificant  mountain  tribes,  which  had  no 
real  cities,  but  dwelt  in  little  fortified  places  so  called, 
and  which  were  now  crystallizing  into  federations  in 
^Etolia,  Achaea,  and  Acarnania,  destined  ere  long  to 
take  a  prominent  part  in  Greek  politics.  There  was 
also  some  such  league  in  the  mountainous  Lycia,  but 
the  greater  cities  in  Asia  Minor  had  long  been  under  the 
sway  of  Persia  ;  many  of  them  had  been  dismantled  : 
Smyrna,  for  example,  and  Ephesus  were  now  only 
groups  of  scattered  villages,*  and  here  all  political  life 
seemed  dead. 

The  outlook  therefore  in  politics  seemed  very  hope- 
less. No  state  seemed  likely  to  lead,  and,  if  willing, 
would  not  be  allowed  to  lead  ;  internecine  wars  were 
wasting  the  youth  and  strength  of  the  country  ;  com- 
merce was  suffering  greatly  by  these  foolish  quarrels, 
and  the  glories  of  Greece  seemed  so  completely  passed 
away,    at  least  politically,    that  the  first  vigorous  and 

*  It  was  the  policy  of  Alexander's  early  successors  (Antigonus,  Lysimachus) 
to  refound  these  cities,  but  they  were  not  free  from  the  modern  vanity  of  re- 
naming them  after  themselves. 


Time  of  Alexander  and  His  Successors.         225 


fresh  nation  of  invaders  was  sure  to  do  what  the 
Dorians  had  done  of  old,  and  overrun  most  of  the  coun- 
try with  ease.  In  the  earlier  days  of  Demosthenes, 
when  a  vigorous  king,  Darius  Ochus,  came  to  the 
Persian  throne,  there  was  considerable  apprehension  in 
Greece  that  the  policy  of  Xerxes  would  be  renewed, 
and  if  this  had  really  taken  place,  now  that  Epami- 
nondas  was  dead,  and  that  the  mercenary  generals  could 
obtain  far  higher  pay  from  the  great  king  than  Athens 
or  Thebes  could  afford  to  give  them,  it  is  more  than  Mac^on^ 
likelv   that    Greece   would    have  succumbed   like  Asia  to  a  Persian 

J  ,  invasion. 

Minor,  and  its  famous  liberties  have  been  quenched  in  a 
mean  old  age  of  subjection  to  the  barbarian.  It  was 
Philip  and  his  Macedonians  who  formed  the  real  bar  to 
such  an  invasion,  and  yet  the  Greeks  so  hated  Philip 
that  they  would  even  have  sided  with  the  Persian  to 
overthrow  him,  hoping  to  make  terms  for  themselves 
when  their  dreaded  neighbor  was  removed. 

When  the  news   came  that    Philip  was   assassinated 
there  was  nothing:  but  open  joy  in  Greece.     The  league  Greek  rejoic- 

,        ~        1  /-.      •      1      1         ing  at  death 

which  he  had  forced  upon  the  Greeks  at  Corinth,  by  of  Philip. 
which  they  were  to  combine  under  him  in  a  great 
campaign  against  Persia,  was  at  once  dissolved.  He 
had  taken  the  first  steps  ;  he  had  sent  on  troops  to  the 
Dardanelles  ;  he  was  eagerly  stretching  out  his  hand  to 
pluck  the  fruit  of  all  his  labors  in  strategy  and  in  diplo- 
macy, when  the  knife  of  the  assassin  struck  him.  It 
was  no  blow  struck  for  the  liberty  of  Greece,  but  mere 
vulgar  vengeance  for  a  personal  affront  which  Philip 
refused  to  redress.  The  private  life  of  Philip  was  such 
as  does  not  bear  inquiry  here.  He  fell  a  victim  to  the 
vices  which  he  practiced  and  tolerated  at  his  court,  and  Philip's  vices, 
which  stained  and  marred  his  greatness. 

Everything  promised  the  grumbling  and  discontented 


226 


A  Survey  of  Greek   Civilization. 


Uncertainty 
of  Macedonian 

succession. 


Alexander's 
greatness  not 

to  be  ascribed 
to  Aristotle's 
influence. 


Innate  great- 
ness of  Alex- 
ander. 


Greeks  a  relief  from  Macedonian  domination.  Philip 
had  been  slain  in  the  flower  of  his  age,  without  a 
moment  of  notice  ;  no  preparations  were  made  for  the 
succession,  unless  we  count  as  such  the  various  intrigues 
of  several  claimants,  both  older  and  younger  than 
Alexander.  It  was  more  than  likely  that  a  civil  war 
would  ensue. 

But  the  genius  of  Alexander  soon  crushed  all  the 
expectations  of  his  enemies.  He  had  been  brought  up 
at  the  quiet  Mieza,  far  from  the  immoral  and  disorderly 
court  of  Philip,  under  the  care  of  Aristotle,  whom  Philip 
with  consummate  judgment  had  chosen  for  the  task. 
Never  did  such  a  master  have  such  a  pupil.  And  yet 
nothing  is  more  remarkable — I  do  not  hold  it  strange 
— than  the  complete  independence  and  originality  of 
Alexander's  ideas.  We  cannot  find  one  feature  of  his 
policy,  or  of  his  daily  life,  which  can  be  fairly  attributed 
to  Aristotle's  influence.  At  all  times  and  among  all 
men,  the  influence  of  education  is  wont  to  be  exag- 
gerated. There  seems  to  be  a  constant  tendency  to 
attribute  anything  which  a  man  does  to  some  advice  he 
has  got  from  somebody  else.  It  is  far  nearer  the  truth 
to  say  that  every  man  comes  into  the  world  a  distinct 
being,  with  a  character  which  education  can  only  some- 
times modify,  but  which  it  can  never  change.  The 
conditions  of  this  character  lie  in  the  parents,  perhaps 
even  in  the  ancestors,  and  are  transmitted  by  them  un- 
consciously with  their  physical  characteristics  to  their 
offspring.  Alexander's  parents  were  both  strong  and 
dominating  characters.  They  were  possessed  both  of 
beauty  and  of  very  passionate  tempers.  Yet  we  know 
only  too  well  that  no  known  combination  of  clever 
parents  will  secure  a  clever  offspring.  The  great 
majority  of  those  supreme  intellects  which  have  trans- 


Time  of  Alexander  and  His  Successors.         227 


formed  the  world  have  sprung  from  obscure  or  insignifi- 
cant parents.  When  such  appear,  their  educators,  even 
were  they  Aristotles,  can  do  little  more  than  watch  with 
wonder  their  developments. 

We  have  not  a  word,  even  of  allusion,  in  Aris- 
totle's many  works  to  this  subject,  which  would  have 
been  to  us  far  more  interesting  than  his  metaphysics,  or 
his  natural  history  of  the  lower  animals.  But  there 
is  ground  for  asserting  that  as  Aristotle's  studies  in 
"Politics"  are  completely  antiquated  in  the  light  of 
Alexander's  conquest,  as  the  whole  range  of  Aristotle's  ^mnderj^ 
political  vision  is  confined  to  the  little  Greek  states  than  Aristotle's, 
of  previous  centuries,  and  ignores  the  great  empire 
which  he  saw  created,  as  it  were  by  magic,  before 
his  eyes,  so  there  must  have  been  many  other  points  in 
which  Alexander  chose  to  differ  from  his  great  instruc- 
tor. The  young  king's  Greek  style  was  bad  ;  that  we 
know  from  the  text  of  his  open  letter  to  Darius,  which 
he  intended  all  the  world  to  read.  But  style  was  per- 
haps the  only  corner  of  culture  to  which  we  may 
suppose  Aristotle  indifferent,  and  therefore  no  zealous 
teacher  thereof.  The  work  recently  recovered,  which 
the  ancients  attributed  to  his  pen,  if  it  be  indeed   his,    His  Greek 

j  ...       style  bad. 

gives  us  even  a  poorer  idea  than  we  had  already  of  his 
writing,  as  compared  with  his  thinking. 

It  is,  however,  very  probable  that  though  Aristotle 
could  not  make  him  think  in  any  Aristotelian  line,  he 
helped  him,  were  it  only  by  his  opposition,  to  think  for 
himself,  if  it  be  indeed  thinking,  and  not  some  higher 
spontaneous  power,  which  enables  a  genius  to  solve  with- 
out trouble  problems  that  are  the  despair  of  ordinary  men. 
His  military  training  was  not  theoretical  but  practical  ;  Alexander's 
as  a  boy  of  seventeen  or  eighteen  he  took  a  leading  part  £1?  training* 
in  the  great  battle  of  Chaeronea  and  his  flatterers  after- 


228 


A  Survey  of  Greek   Civilization. 


Alexander 
at  Chaeronea. 


He  puts  his 
rivals  to  death. 


He  exacts  a 
pledge  from  the 
Greets. 


Alexander's 
first  expedition 


ward  attributed  to  him  the  lion's  share  of  the  victory. 
But  Diodorus's  account  is  so  meager  and  so  full  of 
vague  rhetoric,  that  we  do  not  even  know  whether 
Alexander  fought  with  the  cavalry,  as  was  his  constant 
practice  afterward  or  whether  he  commanded  a  pha- 
lanx of  infantry.  At  all  events,  he  had,  when  he  was 
suddenly  called  to  the  succession,  actual  practice  in 
battle  ;  he  had,  moreover,  been  involved  in  angry  dis- 
putes with  his  father,  and  must  have  been  rapidly  learn- 
ing how  to  discern  his  faithful  friends  and  how  to  evade 
or  overcome  the  plots  of  his  rivals  and  enemies.  His 
education  therefore  in  political  intrigues  must  have  been 
very  advanced  for  his  age.  Upon  his  succession,  how- 
ever, he  settled  such  difficulties  by  simply  putting  to 
death  those  whom  he  suspected,  in  this  acting  as  every 
Macedonian  king,  in  that  polygamous  court,  felt  com- 
pelled to  do  for  his  personal  safety. 

Of  course  Greece  prepared  to  rise  against  him.  The 
Hellenic  people  had  no  traditional  or  other  loyalty 
to  bind  them  to  his  allegiance.  They  had  pledged 
themselves  to  his  father  Philip  personally;  had  Philip 
met  with  any  reverse  in  war  their  pledge  would  not  have 
been  kept  for  a  day.  But  Alexander  did  not  give  them 
time  for  any  open  revolt.  He  appeared  with  his  army, 
and  exacted  from  them,  as  his  father  had  done,  a  pledge 
that  they  would  serve  with  him  against  Persia.  Then  he 
returned  home,  and  set  out  for  the  first  of  his  expedi- 
tions, the  campaign  through  Thrace  to  the  Danube, 
and  home  again  by  way  of  Illyria.  This  was  the  time 
when  he  saw  an  embassy  of  Gauls  or  Galatae,  who  sent 
to  ask  his  friendship.  The  story  goes  that  he  asked 
them  of  what  they  were  most  afraid,  and  that  they 
answered:  "Of  nothing,  except  that  the  sky  might 
fall."     The  anecdote  is  only  worth  repeating  to  show 


Time  of  Alexander  and  His  Successors.        229 

the  character  of  these  marauders,  only  too  well  known  in 
after  history,  and  also  to  indicate  that  they  were  already 
looking  westward  for  new  settlements.  Very  probably 
their  invasion  of  the  Balkan  Peninsula  was  only  delayed 
by  their  knowledge  of  Alexander's  power. 

However,  in  this  ' '  preliminary  canter  ' '  against  bar- 
barians, living  in  a  difficult  country  with  mountain 
passes  and  rivers,  Alexander  not  only  made  trial  of  the 
marching  power  of  his  army,  but  obtained  through  his 
conquests  the  adhesion  of  mountaineers  who  furnished 
him  with  his  most  valuable  light  troops. 

His  absence  and   then  the  positive  news  of  his  death 

1  Insurrection 

was  enough  to  set  Greece  again  aflame.  He  heard  ofThebans. 
suddenly  in  the  Illyrian  country  that  his  garrison  at 
Thebes,  which  was  the  most  insubordinate  of  his  Greek 
allies,  inasmuch  as  it  had  most  recently  been  the  most 
dominant,  was  besieged  and  hard  pressed  in  the  citadel. 
So  he  burst  like  a  thunder  cloud  upon  Greece,  this  time 
in  earnest  about  these  Greek  revolts. 

Thebes  was  stormed  with  great  massacre,   but  razed  Thebesrazed 
to  the  ground  and  the   inhabitants  sold  as  slaves,  not  to  the  ground, 
by  his  order,  but  by  the  vote  of  the  neighboring  Boeo- 
tian towns,  to  whom   he  committed  the  decision.      In 
order  to  gratify  old  hatreds,  in  order  to  secure  for  them- 
selves some  of  the  confiscated   land,    these   neighbors 
passed  a  vote  of  absolute  destruction  upon  one  of  the 
oldest   and  most  celebrated  cities  in  Greece.      It  was 
Alexander,    and    not   these    wretched    creatures,    who  ^Irestffe 
spared  the   house   of   the   poet    Pindar,    and    of   those   p°n<fa°f 
who  claimed  to  be  his  descendants.      Such  considera- 
tions affected  a  Macedonian   king  ;  they   would    never 
have  affected  a  Hellenic  peasant.      Nothing  but  a  Mace- 
donian fortress  remained  to  show   where   Thebes    had 
stood.      But  after  this  stern  lesson,   Alexander  showed 


230 


A  Survey  of  Greek   Civilization. 


Clemency  of 
Alexander. 


Demosthenes 
plots  against 
Alexander. 


Usual  histor- 
ical estimate  of 
Demosthenes 
is  false. 


ckmency  and  humanity.  He  left  dangerous  opponents 
such  as  Demosthenes  and  the  orators  opposed  to  Mace- 
donia free  at  Athens  ;  he  insisted  on  no  murders,  con- 
fiscations, or  dismantling  of  fortifications — generous  and 
large  minded  himself,  he  may  have  hoped  that  he  would 
be  requited  by  some  gratitude,  by  some  consideration 
from  the  men  whose  lives  he  had  spared.  But  his  hopes 
were  vain.  It  is  the  stain  upon  his  opponents  which  we 
meet  in  so  many  other  centuries  of  Greek  history. 
Gratitude  seems  to  them  an  unknown  virtue.  All  the 
rest  of  his  life  Demosthenes  kept  planning  and  plotting 
against  him,  negotiating  with  the  Persian  king,  and 
spreading  disaffection  with  Persian  gold  in  Greece.  At 
last  he  was  even  charged  with  embezzling  this  gold 
for  his  own  use.  And  yet  it  is  Demosthenes  who  com- 
mands all  the  sympathies  of  the  historians.  Not  even 
the  gallant  and  simple  Phocion,  whose  soul  was  so  pure 
as  to  raise  him  above  all  the  falsehood  and  the  meanness 
of  the  times,  who  clearly  saw  through  and  repudiated 
the  policy  of  Demosthenes,  can  obtain  from  them  more 
than  scant  praise. 

Why  is  so  strange  a  result  possible?  How  can 
learned  and  honest  men  blind  themselves  so  completely 
to  the  facts  ?  Simply  because  Demosthenes  was  a  great 
orator,  who  has  told  us  his  own  story,  whereas  the  case 
against  him  is  told  by  inferior  men,  and  by  those  whom 
he  has  persuaded  us  to  have  been  dishonest.  But  the 
false  estimate  of  Demosthenes  as  a  politician  is  the 
natural  product  of  those  commentators  who  spend  so 
many  years  in  expounding  the  perfections  of  his  elo- 
quence that  they  cannot  endure  to  admit  a  single  fault  in 
the  man. 

The  false  and  misguided  patriotism  of  Demosthenes 
had  very  fatal  results.      If  he  and  the  other  leading  poli- 


Time  of  Alexander  and  His  Successors.         231 


ticians  had  loyally  accepted  the  situation,  and  helped 
Alexander  not  only  with  the  arms  of  their  states,  but 
with  their  brains,  his  whole  attitude  to  Greece  would 
have  been  changed.  He  certainly  began  with  every 
consideration  for  them  ;  he  even  spoke  out  about  the 
strange  contrast  of  Hellenic  and  Macedonian  society,  Aat£n"eewithes 
calling  the  former  gentlemen  and  the  latter  boors  ;  the  Greeks. 
he  desired  above  all  things  to  be  known  as  the  leader  of 
the  Greeks,  not  of  the  Macedonians,  against  Persia. 
The  stupid  and  unworthy  conduct  of  the  leading  cities 
soon  made  him  change  his  mind.  Though  he  was 
always  ready  to  promote  individual  Greeks  that  served 
him  well,  he  found  in  the  conquered  Persians  more 
loyalty,  more  honesty,  more  desire  to  do  his  will  ; 
and  so  Athens  and  Thebes  lost  an  opportunity  of  guid- 
ing the  course  of  history  which  never  recurred. 

The  case    of   Sparta   was    even    more   striking-,    and 

1  .  °  Alexander's 

the  conduct  of  Alexander,  and  indeed  of  Philip,  regard-   indulgence 

1 ,         °  toward  Sparta. 

ing  it  is  well  worth  our  consideration.  Both  kings  were 
with  their  armies  at  Corinth,  where  all  the  Greeks 
assembled  and  accepted  their  presidency.  But  there 
was  one  notable  exception.  Sparta  would  take  no  part 
in  the  congress,  and  refused  to  acquiesce  except  by 
its  moody  silence  in  the  decision  of  all  Hellas.  It  was 
certainly  within  the  power  of  either  to  conquer  the  city. 
The  campaign  in  Thrace  and  across  the  Danube,  from 
which  Alexander  had  just  returned  victorious,  offered  far 
greater  difficulties,  and  moreover  difficulties  were  ex- 
actly what  Alexander  loved.  Why  then  did  both  Philip 
and  Alexander  spare  Sparta  in  spite  of  her  sulky  imper- 
tinence? I  can  suggest  no  other  reason  than  this,  that 
Sparta  was  now  the  nurse  of  the  best  mercenary  soldiers  Reasons  for 
in  Greece.  Not  only  were  they  personally  brave  sol-  oYsVartatment 
diers,  with  old  traditions  of  valor,  but  they  commanded 


232 


A  Survey  of  Greek   Civilization. 


Importance 
of  Spartan 
mercenaries. 


Mercenary 
soldiering  an 
honorable 

profession. 


the  respect  of  all  other  Hellenes,  who  were  content 
to  serve  under  a  Spartan  when  they  were  most  jealous 
of  any  other  officer.  Hence  a  good  understanding  with 
the  Spartans  was  of  considerable  importance  to  generals 
who  desired  an  efficient  mercenary  contingent  from 
Greece.  The  great  majority  of  the  men  of  Sparta  were 
growing  poor  ;  the  land  was  passing  into  fewer  hands  : 
the  rest  were  idle  and  discontented,  and  ready  at 
any  moment  to  go  off  to  the  great  mart  of  mercenaries 
at  Tasnaron.  If  Sparta  were  taken  by  an  enemy,  all 
these  people  would  sail  away  and  join  the  Persian  army 
in  Asia  Minor.  It  was  therefore  not  only  contemptu- 
ously generous,  but  politic,  to  leave  Spartans  free  to  join 
the  Macedonian  army,  and  fight  under  a  king  who  had 
at  least  refrained  from  invading  Laconia.  Accordingly 
the  Spartans  were  left  in  their  proud  isolation,  posing  as 
the  purest  and  most  aristocratic  of  Greeks,  looked  up  to 
as  men  of  blue  blood  and  lofty  traditions,  while  their 
poverty  compelled  them  to  go  abroad  and  fight  other 
men's  quarrels  for  pay. 

But  soldiering  even  as  mercenaries  has  always  been 
looked  upon  by  aristocrats  as  more  respectable  than  any 
peaceable  trade.  There  is  in  the  profession  of  arms 
idleness,  adventure,  and  a  chance  of  great  prizes  ;  and 
if  Aristotle  inquires  in  one  of  his  "Problems"  why 
actors  are  usually  very  bad  characters,  and  solves  it  by 
pointing  out  the  strong  contrasts  of  wealth  and  poverty, 
of  idleness  and  work,  in  fact  all  the  ups  and  downs  of 
their  lives,  he  might  have  said  much  the  same  of  mer- 
cenary soldiers.  Be  it  remembered  also  that  these 
mercenaries  were  far  more  than  a  mere  guard  for  a 
king,  like  the  Scottish  archers  of  Louis  XL,  or  the 
Swiss  guard  of  the  pope.  They  were  great  bodies  of 
men    with    their    own    generals,     as    we    know    from 


Time  of  Alexander  arid  His  Successors.        233 

Xenophon,  and  were  often  intrusted  with  a  whole 
campaign  by  subsequent  kings.  We  know  of  one 
/Etolian  Scopas,  in  the  next  century,  whose  pay  was 
two  hundred  dollars  per  day. 

Now  to  all  these  people  the  expedition  of  Alexander 
was  an  extraordinary  good   fortune.      At  first  many  of   Profits  to 

J     <->  J  mercenary 

them  got  large  Persian  pay  for  fighting  against  him  ^l^nde™™ 
under  Mentor  and  Memnon,  the  Rhodians  ;  but  these  expedition, 
seem  to  have  been  cut  to  pieces  at  the  first  battle  (of 
the  Granicus).  It  is  indeed  clear  that  the  Persian 
grandees  commanding  their  native  cavalry  did  not  trust 
the  Greek  infantry,  and  left  them  in  reserve  until  the 
battle  was  lost.  But  though  Alexander  treated  his 
Greek  prisoners  as  traitors  to  the  cause  and  to  the 
treaty  of  Corinth,  and  set  them  to  work  in  the  Mace- 
donian mines,  though  his  succeeding  campaign  was  one 
tide  of  success,  a  large  division  of  mercenaries  was 
present  on  the  Persian  side  at  the  battle  of  Issus,  and 
fought  with  bravery  against  him,  thus  showing  how  in- 
grained was  the  habit  of  serving  for  pay,  and  how  little 
sentiment  these  adventurers  possessed.  For  it  is  well-  Grote's  injustice 
nigh  absurd  to  say,  as  Grote  does,  that  the  Persian 
cause  was  now  the  real  cause  of  Greece.  That  eminent 
radical  historian  can  see  nothing  in  Alexander  but  the 
man  who  superseded  the  little  quarrelling  Greek  democ- 
racies, with  their  parliaments  and  liberties,  by  the  great 
empire  of  the  East  in  which  Hellas  formed  but  a  small 
province.  If  the  Persian  had  indeed  won,  if  Alexander 
had  been  killed  at  the  Granicus,  would  the  world  not 
have  fared  far  worse  than  it  did  ?  Were  not  four 
centuries  of  city  politics  quite  sufficient  to  discover  all 
their  virtues,  to  extract  all  the  art  and  poetry  and 
philosophy  they  were  likely  to  give  to  mankind  ;  and 
was  not  the  time  come  for  a  larger  scope,   a  greater 


234 


A  Survey  of  Greek   Civilization. 


Modern  view 
that  the 
mission  of 
Alexander  was 
no  misfortune 
to  Greece. 


Adoption  of 
Greek  in 
Macedonia. 


The  "common' 
dialect. 


diffusion  in  Hellenic  culture?  These  are  the  reasons 
why  most  modern  historians  esteem  the  mission  of 
Alexander  as  no  misfortune  for  Greece. 

Of  course  its  first  and  immediate  effect  was  to  make 
the  use  of  Greek  a  necessity  for  the  composite  army 
which  went  into  Asia.  It  is  quite  clear  that  there  was 
no  attempt  to  impose  Macedonian,  as  the  language  of 
the  conquerors,  upon  the  world,  though  it  was  kept  up 
with  pride  and  used  at  special  meetings  of  the  Mace- 
donian soldiery  for  some  generations.  But  Greek 
became  so  completely  the  language  of  the  new  empire 
that  all  Alexander's  official  correspondence,  nay  even 
his  letters  to  his  mother,  and  the  Royal  Diary  of  his 
life,  were  kept  in  that  tongue.  There  were  intimate 
moments  when  the  king  would  exclaim  something  in 
Macedonian  and  when  his  soldiers  would  shout 
applause  in  that  language.  But  throughout  the  East 
the  Macedonians  are  called  Greeks  by  all  their  subjects. 
Yet  of  course  the  delicacies  of  the  language,  the  use  of 
various  dialects,  the  graces  of  composition  suffered  by  this 
adoption.  We  find  almost  suddenly  a  dialect  called  the 
"common,"  which  is  derived  from,  or  similar  to,  Attic, 
but  which  has  many  peculiarities,  not  yet  fully  explained, 
for  its  history  is  quite  obscure.  It  grew  up  in  camps  and 
marts  without  any  systematic  teaching,  and  we  wonder 
how  it  kept  as  pure  as  we  find  it  in  the  remote  provinces 
of  Egvpt  in  the  next  century.*  There  were  individual 
cities  indeed  in  Thessaly,  Asia  Minor,  Crete,  which  still 
set  up  decrees  couched  in  the  local  dialects  ;  but  for  all 
business  purposes  the  language  at  last  became  uniform. 

•This  we  now  know  from  the  many  Prtrie  Papyri  dating  from  260-20  which 
I  have  deciphered  and  published  for  the  Royal  Irish  Academy,  and  which  give 
us  the  dialect  in  an  earlier  and  purer  form  than  any  extant  book.  The 
Septuagint  translation  of  the  Old  Testament  is  about  the  same  age,  but  done 
by  men  who  were  not  Greeks  and  moreover  had  their  freedom  of  style 
shackled  by  their  close  adhesion  to  the  Hebrew  original:  hence  their  work 
can  hardly  be  called  a  fair  specimen  of  the  average  Greek  of  the  time. 


Time  of  Alexander  and  His  Successors.         235 

It  is  needless  to  dilate  upon  the  enormous  advantage 
which  this  expansion  and  unification  of  the  language 
produced  upon  civilization.  Men  who  could  formerly 
hardly  understand  each  other  in  Greece  could  now 
meet  as  members  of  the  same  society  ;  many  civilized 
orientals  who  were  formerly  regarded  as  mere  barbari- 
ans could  now  teach  their  old  traditions,  their  arts, 
their  religion  to  the  once  proud  and  exclusive  Hellenes. 
We  may  well  prophesy  of  that  as:e  :    ' '  Knowledge  shall   Advantages 

J  °  °  from  the  spread 

increase  and  men  shall  run  to  and  fro."  The  precious  of  Hellenism, 
things  of  the  East  were  domiciled  in  Europe  ;  the  pre- 
cious things  of  the  West  found  their  way  to  Asia  and 
to  Egypt,  and  if  the  orientals  were  far  superior  in  handi- 
crafts, the  Greeks  were  still  far  superior  in  art.  Great 
sculptors  and  painters  still  flourished  in  Greece,  notably 
Apelles  the  colorist,  and  Lysippus  the  artist  in  bronze. 
Apelles  is  to  us  a  mere  name,  but  the  copies  of  Lysip- 
pus's  work  which  remain,  for  example  the  young  athlete  Lysippus. 
with  the  strigil*  in  the  Vatican  at  Rome  show  that  he 
was  worthy  of  the  greatest  traditions  of  his  great  race. 

We  now  also  know  that  he  stood  not  alone,  but  that 
nameless  men  of  his  generation  could  do  work  which 
puts  to  shame  all  modern  sculpture.  It  is  but  the  other 
day  that  there  was  found  at  Saida  (Sidon)  the  family 
vault  of  a  Sidonian  king  which  contains  several  marble 
coffins  of  the  purest  Greek  style.  The  principal  one  is 
adorned  on  all  four  sides  with  scenes  of  battle  and 
of  chase  in  which  Macedonians,  Greeks,  and  Persians 
take  part — in  the  chase  as  friends  and  comrades,  in  the  a  sidonian  king, 
battle  as  foes.  The  choice  of  subjects,  and  the  apparent 
prominence  of  a  figure  known  as  representing  the  type 
of  Alexander,  prove  the  work  to  have  been  done  in  his 
generation  ;  some   foolish  people  even  asserted  that  it 

*  I.  e.,  the  scraper  with  which  he  is  cleaning  the  oil  and  dust  from  his  limbs. 


236 


A  Survey  of  Greek   Civilization. 


A  treasure  of 
Greek  art  at 
Sidon. 


Preserved  in 
museum  of 
Constantinople. 


Its  importam  e 

for  the  history 
of  art. 


was  his  tomb.  From  its  prominence  in  the  midst  of  the 
tombs  of  earlier  and  later  Sidonian  kings  we  may  infer  it 
with  good  reason  to  be  that  of  the  Sidonian  king  whom 
Alexander  patronized;  perhaps  the  Philocles  who  helped 
the  hrst  Ptolemy  in  his  wars.  At  all  events,  what 
we  have  before  us  is  a  perfectly  pure  and  splendid  piece 
of  Greek  art  brought  to  Sidon  and  deposited  there. 

Happily  the  modern  traveler  can  now  see  this  ines- 
timable treasure  not  at  Saida  on  a  barren  coast,  where, 
as  Ezechiel  prophesied,  instead  of  wealth  and  splendor 
the  fisher  now  spreads  his  nets,  but  in  a  museum  of  Con- 
stantinople, where  the  anxious  and  intelligent  care  of 
the  discoverer,  Hamdi  Bey,  has  put  together  every  frag- 
ment which  sacrilegious  hands  had  broken,  and  has  set 
up,  under  a  safe  cover  of  glass,  this  monument  which 
stands  second  only  to  the  Parthenon  friezes  in  excel- 
lence of  design,  while  it  far  surpasses  them  in  richness  of 
execution.  The  silver  bridles,  the  silver  spears  and 
swords,  have  been  wrenched  from  the  hands  of  the  fig- 
ures that  held  them,  but  these  figures  are  mostly  perfect, 
retaining  even  the  original  colors,  with  which  the  artist 
had  adorned  the  cold  marble. 

This  discovery  tells  us  with  a  clearer  voice  than 
all  our  books  what  Hellenic  art,  and  so  Hellenic  cul- 
ture, was,  in  the  generation  when  Alexander  spread  it 
over  a  large  part  of  Asia.  The  splendid  publication 
wherein  Hamdi  Bey  has  pictured  and  described  his  dis- 
covery is  naturally  very  costly,  but  ought  to  be  in  every 
public  library  of  America. *     The  first  feature  in  these 


*  "  I'ne  NScropole  royale  de  Sidon,"  by  Hamdi  Bey  and  Theodore  Reinach. 
Paris.  Leroux,  1892-4.  The  fourth  and  last  volume  lias  not  yet  appeared  (1895). 
But  even  in  this  noble  book,  which  has  made  full  use  of  the  existing  resource  of 
photography,  the  colors  of  the  original  are  not  yet  reproduced.  Let  us  hope 
that  the  great  advance — the  reproduction  of  the  natural  colors — which  my 
friend  Mr.  Joly  has  recently  made  in  Trinity  College  will  soon  be  applied  to 
this  work,  and  so  give  to  the  remote  world  a  perfect  copy  of  so  unique  a  master- 
piece. 


Time  of  Alexander  and  His  Successors.         237 


remarkable  compositions  is  the  studied  equality  of  the 
three  great  races,  Persian,  Macedonian,  Greek.  They 
are  perfectly  marked  out  by  their  dress  or  want  of  dress. 
For  the  Greek  infantry  seems  to  figfht  quite  nude,  we   Dress  of  the 

~  °  ^*  Persians,  Mace- 

may  presume  for  artistic  reasons,  rather  than  the  repro-   donians,  and 

.  ,  Greeks  repre- 

duction  of  fact  ;  the  Macedonians  are  all  on  horseback,  sented. 
and  clothed  down  to  the  wrist  and  ankle,  as  might  be 
expected  from  people  coming  from  a  cold  and  mountain- 
ous country.  But  the  Persians  are  even  more  closely 
clad,  and  have  a  cap  which  includes  a  muffler  around 
the  mouth,  thus  reminding  us  that  the  great  nation 
which  so  long  ruled  the  East  was  also  a  nation  bred 
and  hardened  in  rugged  and  cold  mountains.  In  no- 
bility of  type  and  beauty  of  countenance  the  artist 
clearly  gives  the  palm  to  the  Persians.  But  they  are  all 
represented  with  blue  eyes  and  ruddy  hair,  this  too  for 
artistic  reasons  ;  for  black  hair  and  swarthy  skin  would 
have  marred  the  harmony  of  color  which  pervades  the 
whole  composition.  In  the  war  scene  there  is  a  distinct 
advantage  allowed  to  the  Macedonians  ;  none  of  their 
chiefs  on  horseback  are  defeated,  whereas  the  leading 
Persian,  perhaps  the  father  of  the  owner  of  the  tomb,  is 
represented  as  falling  from  his  horse  dead,  and  sup- 
ported by  his  anxious  followers.  On  the  other  hand,  in 
the  hunting  scenes  the  Persians  are  foremost,  and  con- 
tending both  on  horse  and  on  foot  with  valor  against  the 
lion  and  the  panther.  These  wild  animals  and  the 
dogs  are  decidedly  inferior  to  the  men  and  horses  in   Petai>ed. 

_  ■'  description  ol 

their  drawing  ;  as  regards  the  wild  animals,  it  is  easily  thesarcopha- 

accounted  for  by  the  want  of  living  models  under  which 

the  Greek  artists  suffered.      Why  the  dogs  are  not  so 

well  given  as  the  horses  I  am  at  a  loss  to  explain.    There 

is  a  murder  scene  on  one  of  the  ends  of  the  sarcophagus, 

which  no  one  has  yet  been  able  to  explain. 


Sculpture  on  the  Sarcophagus  of  a  Sidoniam  King.    (See  page  237.) 


238 


Time  of  Alexander  and  His  Successors.         239 


We  have  therefore  a  living  picture  of  what  Alexander 
meant  by  the  marriage  of  Europe  and  Asia.  It  was  not 
merely  that  Macedonian  grandees  should  marry  Persian 
princesses  ;  it  implied  the  social  combination  of  all  that 
was  noble  and  manly  in  both  races,  and  more  especially 
of  Macedonians  rather  than  Greeks,  on  account  of  their 
open-air  habits  and  the  love  of  sport  which  only  aristo- 
crats with  large  domains  in  wild  country  can  gratify. 
The  Greeks  were  more  fit  for  office  work,  for  the  intelli- 
gence department,  for  diplomatic  wiles.  But  they  were 
not  an  aristocracy,  like  the  other  two,  unless  it  be  the 
Spartans,  whose  sullen  refusal  kept  them  aloof.*  Thus 
it  is  characteristic  that  among  all  Alexander's  leading 
men,  there  was  but  one  Greek,  Eumenes  of  Cardia,  who    Eumenes  of 

....  Cardia. 

was  his  confidential  secretary  and  whose  great  ability 
secured  the  foremost  position  in  the  disputes  which  suc- 
ceeded the  conqueror's  death.  But  it  is  equally  signifi- 
cant that  his  being  a  Greek  was  an  insuperable  obstacle 
to  his  keeping  the  command  over  Macedonian  soldiers. 
He  could  win  battles  with  them,  but  his  success,  if 
against  a  Macedonian  noble,  was  rather  resented  than 
applauded,  even  by  his  own  troops.  Thus  he  fell  a  vic- 
tim to  their  treachery. 

But  though  the  Greeks  may  have  felt  that  so  far  they   „     ,    _     , 

&  J  J      Results  for  the 

were  an  inferior  race— the  Persian   nobles  had  always   Greeks  of  the 

J        Macedonian 

despised  them  as  venal  mercenaries — they  must  have  conquest. 
seen  perfectly  that  the  Macedonian  conquest  opened  all 
the  world  to  their  talents.  The  education  of  the  Mace- 
donians was  unequal  to  the  administration  of  so  vast  a 
dominion.  In  every  office  of  government,  in  the  com- 
mand of  many  remote  dependencies,  in  all  sorts  of  in- 
tellectual    work,    the    Greeks    were    indispensable  ;    as 


*  The  fact  of  the  Spartans   fighting  for  pay  of  course  lowered  them  in  the 
social  esteem  of  the  more  chivalrous  races. 


240 


A  Survey  of  Greek   Civilization. 


Stimulus  to 
trade  given  by 
gold  currency. 


Increase  of 
luxury. 


explorers,  as  envoys  to  foreign  potentates,  such  as  the 
remote  kings  of  India,  they  were  equally  so.  And  what 
shall  we  say  of  trade?  It  is  hardly  possible  now  to  esti- 
mate the  extraordinary  stimulus  given  to  trade  and 
commerce,  not  only  by  the  opening  up  of  Asia  and 
Egypt  to  the  western  world,  but  perhaps  even  more  by 
the  freeing  from  the  Persian  treasure-houses  at  Susa  and 
at  Pasargadae  of  the  hoards  of  gold  which  had  there  been 
accumulated  for  centuries.  There  was  indeed  among 
the  Phenicians  some  attempt  at  token  money.  But 
throughout  inner  Asia  merchants  could  only  trade  (if 
not  by  barter)  with  coin,  and  so  long  as  current  coin 
was  only  silver  or  copper,  the  weight  to  be  carried  made 
large  transactions  with  distant  lands  almost  impossible. 
When  millions  of  gold  and  precious  stones  were  scat- 
tered or  lost  among  the  soldiers,  and  made  their  way 
into  business  hands,  the  trader  found  that  he  could  now 
carry  in  his  belt  more  money  value  than  he  had  formerly 
laden  upon  a  camel.  The  issue,  therefore,  of  Alexan- 
der's gold  currency  must  have  been  almost  like  the 
invention  of  bank  notes  as  compared  with  actual  coin. 

With  all  this  stir  in  the  mercantile  world  there  came  a 
great  increase  of  luxury.  The  successful  soldier  is  usu- 
ally a  spendthrift  and  is  lavish  of  his  loot  ;  the  "  Miles 
Gloriosus  "  of  the  time  is  a  common  figure  on  the  comic 
stage,  and  ridiculed  for  his  vulgar  ostentation.*  But 
although  the  cultivated  Athenian  might  deride  the  ex- 
travagance of  the  common  mercenary,  who  had  risen 
from  indigence  to  sudden  wealth,  it  was  not  so  when  he 
came  to  see  royal  courts,  with  the  refinements  of  ancient 
and  traditional  splendor.  Even  the  great  king  of  Mace- 
don  when  he  entered  the  suite  of  tents  which  Darius  had 


*  The  extant  Plautine  play  of  that  name  is  taken  from  a  Greek  model  of  this 
period. 


Time  of  Alexander  and  His  Successors.         241 

left  behind  in  his  flight   from   Issus,   when   he  saw  the 
bathrooms,  dressing  rooms,    ante-chambers,   under  can-   f£-?V£et 
vas,  and  the  royal  table  laid  ready  with  precious  plate  1Per^iran 
and  ware,    exclaimed  to   his   officers  :    "Well!  this    is 
indeed  to  live  like  a  king."      He  took  care  to  adopt  this 
princely  luxury,   and  so  increased  the  appointments  of 
his  table  that  he  presently  had  to  fix  two  thousand  dol-  - 
lars  as  the  daily  allowance.     This  of  course  included  the 
large  retinue  which  dined,    if  not  at  the  king's  table,  at 
least  in  the  room,  as  well  as  the  many  extravagances  and 
the  wastefulness  which  mark  a  royal  kitchen. 

His  assumption  of  oriental  royalty  went  so  far  as  the    . 

^  J        J  Asserts  his 

assertion  of  his  own  divinity,  and  this,  as  it  is  a  some-  divinity, 
what  disputed  point,  and  as  it  had  a  great  effect  on  the 
sentiment  of  the  Hellenistic  Greeks,  it  is  well  to  explain 
at  some  length.  It  had  long  been  the  practice  in  Greece 
to  give  to  a  founder  and  benefactor  of  a  free  city  the 
honors  of  a  tomb,  treated  as  that  of  a  hero.  Thus  the 
town  of  Amphipolis  buried  the  Spartan  hero  Brasidas  in 
the  market-place,  and  had  a  sacred  enclosure  about  it, 
where  periodical  libations  and  offerings  were  made  in 
honor  of  him.*  This  honor  did  not  as  yet  go  so  far  as 
actual  worship,  but  was  such  as  may  now  be  seen  in 
Upper  Egypt  and  Nubia,  where  the  tombs  of  departed 
sheiks  have  a  chapel  built  over  them,  to  which  the  pop- 
ulation, though  Mohammedan,  and  strictly  monotheistic, 
bring  periodical  offerings. 

But  the  tendency  to  honor  men  with  the  honor  due  to   _,  ..    it 

J  Deification  of 

the   gods    did    not   stop    there.      When    Lysander  had   Lysander. 
crushed  the  Athenian  power  (405  B.  C. )   and  was  prac- 
tically— though  not  even  king  at  Sparta — lord   of   the 
Hellenic  world,  we  hearf  that  to  him  first  of  the  Greeks 

*  Cf.  Thucydides,  Book  V.,  Chap.  II. 
f  Plutarch's  "Lysander,"  Chap.  XVIII. 


242 


A  Survey  of  Greek  Civilization. 


I'pean  to 
Lvsander. 


Reasons  why 
the  Greeks 
recognized 
Alexander's 
claim  to 
divinity. 


Alexander's 
\  i-it  to  the 
Temple  of 
Amnion. 


the  (liberated)  cities  set  up  altars  as  to  a  god,  and  sac- 
rificed, and  to  him  first  they  sang  paeans,  of  which  one 
begins  thus  : 

"  The  general  of  Greece,  from  the  broad-winged  Sparta,  we 
shall  praise  in  hymns,  Oh  !  Paean,  Healer  !  " 
and   the  people    of  Samos    even   decreed   to  call   their 
Heraea  (feast  of  Hera)  Lysandrea. 

It  is  very  likely  that  this  deification  was  as  yet  con- 
fined to  the  Asiatic  Greek  cities.  They  had  been  long 
used  to  the  Persian  royalty,  and  the  Asiatic  subjects  of 
the  great  king  had  never  been  very  chary  of  giving  such 
honor  to  a  monarch  whose  daily  service  contained  an 
etiquette  approaching  very  closely  in  its  prostrations  to 
the  reverence  given  to  a  deity.  It  is  therefore  certain 
that  the  Greeks  were  quite  prepared,  by  previous  in- 
stances, to  recognize  such  a  claim  in  a  sovereign  whose  / 
deeds  seemed  superior  to  those  of  ordinary  men.  We 
must  also  remember  that  according  to  the  Greek  re- 
ligion, as  expounded  by  the  old  poets  and  practiced  by 
the  priests,  the  gulf  between  the  god  and  the  man  was 
by  no  means  so  insurmountable  as  it  is  to  us. 

Thus  it  was  no  great  stretch  of  belief  on  the  part  of 
any  man  then  living  in  Greece  to  think  that  so  wonder- 
ful a  person  as  Alexander  was  of  divine  origin,  nor  was 
it  difficult  to  persuade  the  king  himself,  who  felt  strongly 
the  inspiration  of  his  genius,  that  he  was  no  ordinary 
mortal.  He  could  indeed  be  wounded  or  even  killed  in 
battle,  but  were  not  the  very  gods  in  Homer's  Iliad 
wounded,  and  had  not  many  sons  of  gods  died  violent 
deaths  at  the  hands  of  their  enemies  ?  The  visit  to 
Amnion's  temple  in  the  oasis  of  Siwah  had  indeed  all 
the  appearance  of  being  a  political  device  to  obtain  the 
sanction  of  that  famous  shrine  to  his  claim,  but  with  the 
young  Alexander  the  claim  was  probably  quite  serious, 


Time  of  Alexander  and  His  Successors.        243 

and  not  the  least  intended  to  deceive.  It  is  very  re- 
markable that  his  first  child,  the  son  of  Barsine,  the 
widow  of  Memnon,  his  principal  opponent  in  Asia 
Minor,  was  called  Heracles.      I  am  not  aware  that  any   Alexander 

J      names  his  son 

Greek  ever  ventured  to  call  his  son  by  such  a  name  ;  for  Heracles. 
Heracles  was  the  most  famous  son  of  Zeus  and  Alcmena. 
This  simple  fact  proves  to  us  that  he  was  determined  on 
asserting  his  divinity,  which  was  readily  accepted  not 
only  by  the  orientals,  but  by  the  Asiatic  Greeks,  and 
very  soon  by  the  Hellenic  race  generally.  Thus  when 
the  king  quarrelled  with  his  army  at  Opis,  the  mutinous 
Macedonians  bade  him  carry  on  his  wars  with  the  aid  of 
his  father  Ammon,  upon  which  he  leaped  from  his  plat- 
form, and  causing  thirteen  of  them  to  be  seized,  put 
them  to  death  at  once. 

These  considerations  show  it  to  be  in  no  way  incred- 
ible that  he  should  send  home  to  Greece,  ordering  the 
cities,  even  Athens  and  Sparta,  to  pay  him  divine  honor. 
Nor  would  there  have  been  the  smallest  difficulty  in  their 
acquiescence  had  he  not  accompanied  this  order  with 
another,  which  affected  their  pockets.  He  ordered  all  order"restora- 
their  exiles  to  be  restored  to  their  homes.  That  meant,  V°nV°f  the 
as  I  have  already  explained,  a  return  of  property,  which 
had  changed  hands,  from  the  present  owners  to  those 
who  had  formerly  held  it.  No  transaction  of  the  kind 
can  take  place  in  any  state,  ancient  or  modern,  without 
shaking  confidence  in  contract,  and  without  annulling 
many  honest  sales,  and  inflicting  incalculable  hardships 
on  many  honest  people.  But  as  regards  the  admission 
of  divinity  by  Athenians,  we  know  that  within  twenty 
years  of  this  time  they  volunteered  to  confer  the  title  of 
"  Saviour  Gods"  on  Antigonus  and  his  son  Demetrius 
(the  Besieger),  and  when  the  latter  came  to  Athensv  the 
worship  of  him  as  a  divine  person  and  his  association 


exiles. 


244 


A  Survey  of  Greek  Civilisation. 


Cult  of  Roman 
emperors 
imitated  from 
Hellenistic 
kings. 


Disastrous 
moral  effect  of 
assumption  of 

divinity. 


with  the  virgin  goddess  in  the  Parthenon  were  so  effusive 
and  disgusting  as  to  shock  even  the  people  of  that  day. 

Before  the  year  300  B.  C.  every  Hellenistic  king  had 
begun  to  assert  his  own  divinity,  to  claim  descent  from 
Heracles,  or  Apollo,  or  Dionysus,  to  have  a  priest  and 
an  altar,  and  to  associate  his  own  worship  with  that  of 
the  principal  gods  in  his  city.  We  have  already  seen  it 
in  the  case  of  Demetrius,  we  know  that  Seleucus  at 
Antioch  made  the  same  claim,  as  did  also  Ptolemy  in 
Egypt,  and  though  systematized  and  extended  in  after 
generations,  the  idea  was  adopted  from  Alexander  him- 
self bv  the  first  Diadochi.  It  was  from  these  royalties 
that  the  worship  of  the  emperor  was  taken  by  Augustus, 
and  set  up  as  the  one  uniform  cult  of  the  Roman  Em- 
pire. This  is  one  of  the  ideas  in  which  the  Hellenistic 
world  differs  profoundly  from  any  medieval  or  modern 
societies,  and  yet  the  kings  who  in  the  Middle  Ages 
asserted  their  divine  right,  the  pope  who  asserted  his 
infallibility,  were  not  very  far  removed  from  the  other 
claim,  as  a  Greek  would  understand  it. 

The  effect  upon  the  Hellenistic  kings  was,  however, 
much  the  same  as  the  lesser  claim  upon  their  medieval 
successors.  It  caused  both  to  regard  themselves  above 
the  ordinary  laws  of  morality.  The  result  could  not  but 
be  disastrous  as  well  to  themselves  as  to  the  people  who 
came  in  contact  with  them.  This  may  be  shown  in 
various  instances.  To  take  the  most  obvious,  they  were 
all  polygamous,  they  made  and  broke  alliances  as  they 
thought  convenient.  The  queens  and  princesses  of 
those  days  were  not  ashamed,  but  proud  of  the  number 
of  their  husbands.  They  were  just  as  free  of  their  per- 
sons as  the  princes.  Take  the  case  of  Arsinoe,  daughter 
of  the  first  Ptolemy.  First  she  is  married  to  Lysima- 
chus,  king  of  Thrace,   one  of  her  father's  companions, 


Time  of  Alexander  and  His  Successors.        245 

and  probably  forty  years  her  senior.  After  his  death  in 
battle  and  the  murder  of  Seleucus,  his  conqueror,  by 
her  half-brother  Ptolemy  Keraunos,  she  is  induced  by 
him  to  become  his  wife,  whereupon  he  promptly  mur- 
ders her  children,  and  she  flies,  or  is  exiled,  to  a  refuge 
in  the  sacred  island  of  Samothrace.  But  after  a  while 
she  returns  to  Egypt,  where  her  full  brother  Ptolemy  II. 
was  now  king  ;  and  she  so  manages  to  influence  him  Adventures  of 
that  she  persuades  him  to  divorce  his  wife,  who  had 
borne  him  children,  and  raise  her,  his  full  sister,  to  the 
dignity  of  "  sister  and  wife,"  as  the  queen  of  Egypt  was 
called. 

In  this  her  last  adventure  she  attained  to  great  power 
and  importance  ;  her  name  and  bust  appear  upon  coins, 
she  is  worshiped  in  the  temples  as  ' '  the  goddess  that 
loves  her  brother ' '  ;  she  is  paid  the  due  of  one  sixth 
upon  all  the  vineyards  and  gardens  in  Egypt,  which  had   The  worship  of 

r  '  °  1  1         j-         •        Arsmoe. 

hitherto  been  paid  to  the  local  temples  ;  she  dies  in 
power  and  splendor,  leaving  her  husband  disconsolate. 
This  was  the  ancestress  of  a  line  of  queens  which  ended 
with  the  famous,  or  rather  notorious,  Cleopatra  VI., 
who,  if  she  was  a  worthy  descendant  of  such  a  race,  was 
hardly  an  exceptional  one. 

But  Arsinoe  is  one  only  of  a  whole  gallery  of  desper- 
ate ladies,  who  stain  the  annals  of  that  period  with  their 
violence  and  their  crime.  Olympias,  the  queen  mother  oiympias. 
of  Alexander,  was  all  her  life  a  woman  of  violent  pas- 
sions and  jealous  temper.  The  later  legends  of  the  life 
of  Alexander,  which  we  know  under  the  name  of  Callis- 
thenes,  ascribe  to  her  other  vices,  of  which  history 
knows  nothing  beyond  the  suspicion  that  the  great 
Alexander  could  not  have  been  the  son  of  a  mortal 
father.  But  according  to  Egyptian  legend,  the  last 
king  of  Egypt,   Nectanebo,  who  had  mysteriously  dis- 


246 


A  Survey  of  Greek   Civilization. 


Legends  about 
the  birth  of 
Alexander. 


Luxui  y  of  the 
Ptolemies  in 
imitation  of 
Alexander  and 
the  Persians. 


appeared,  and  who  was  accounted  a  magician,  had  gone 
to  Macedon,  and  there  under  the  form  of  a  serpent  ap- 
peared to  Olympias,  and  become  the  father  of  Alexan- 
der. By  this  fable  the  Egyptians  strove  to  show  that 
the  conqueror  was  after  all  their  legitimate  sovereign. 
Nor  were  the  Persians  behind  hand.  They  too  invented 
a  legend  to  show  the  legitimacy  of  Alexander  as  king  of 
Persia.* 

But  when  the  kings  began  to  claim  divine  descent, 
some  allowance  must  be  made  for  the  conduct  of  their 
mothers.  Yet  this  too  is  to  be  remembered,  that  in 
Egypt  at  least,  the  divine  origin  of  a  king,  though  ex- 
pressly asserted,  was  in  no  way  supposed  to  interfere 
with  the  paternity  of  his  earthly  father.  The  second 
Ptolemy,  who  was  the  son  of  Ra,  and  a  god,  was  at  the 
same  time  the  son  of  Ptolemy  Soter  and  Berenike. 
These  are  attitudes  of  mind  which  it  is  vain  for  us  to  ex- 
plain and  vindicate  ;  we  can  do  no  more  than  state  them 
as  historical  facts. 

It  follows  as  a  natural  consequence  that  these  divinized 
rulers  kept  great  state,  and  lived  after  a  fashion  quite 
superior  to  ordinary  men.  They  knew  the  effect  to  be 
obtained  by  gold  and  silver  plate,  rich  carpets  and  hang- 
ings, splendid  armor  and  jewelry,  a  great  household 
with  endless  lords  in  waiting,  ladies  of  honor,  pages, 
household  troops,  and  servants'  servants.  All  this  came 
through  the  court  of  Alexander,  but  originally  from  the 
Persian  court,  as  its  prototype.  When  the  Rhodians, 
during  the  great  siege  of  their  city  by  Demetrius,  cap- 
tured some  of  the  personal  effects  coming  in  a  ship  from 
his  queen  Phila,  they  sent  them  as  a  present  to  King 
Ptolemy,  seeing  that  such  garments  of  purple  and  such 

*See  the  legend  in  Gobineau's  "  Histoi redes  Perses,"  Vol.  II.  (Paris,  1869),  a 
very  curious  and  original  book.  ^\\  intc  the  oriental  side  of  the  Persian  struggle 
with  the  West,  and  the  view  which  the  orientals  took  of  Alexander. 


Time  of  Alexander  and  His  Successors.        247 


ornaments  were  quite  useless  to  any  one  but  a  king. 

But  this  Demetrius  loved  not  only  splendor  of  this  kind,    JJgSlrfMt 

he  was  a  munificent  patron  of  art.      We  know  how  he 

carefully  preserved  the  work  of  Protogenes,   the  painter, 

which  he  found  in  a  suburb  of  Rhodes.* 

We  still  have,  fairly  preserved,  a  magnificent  statue  of 
Victory  (Nike)  which  he  set  up,  probably  after  his  great  ^■Jgff. "£ 
sea  battle  with  Ptolemy.  It  is  now  in  the  Louvre,  and  the  Louvre, 
is  known  as  the  Nike  of  Samothrace.  In  this  sacred 
island  it  stood  on  the  side  of  a  hill,  a  huge  female  figure 
standing  on  the  prow  of  a  ship,  and  blowing  a  trumpet 
in  announcement  of  a  naval  victory.  It  has  been  iden- 
tified by  means  of  extant  coins  of  Demetrius,  which  give 
the  complete  figure  on  their  reverse,  and  is  one  of  the 
most  striking  evidences  how  pure  and  noble  Greek  art 
still  remained  under  the  early  Diadochi.  What  was  said 
before  of  the  famous  tomb  of  Constantinople  applies  here 
also.     If  we  were  not  sure  of  the  date  of  this  statue  and 

Worthy  of  the 

of  the  identity  of  the  donor,   we  should  probably  have  golden  age  of 

J  .  Hellenic  art. 

referred  it  to  the  golden  age  of  Hellenic  art. 

It  is  remarkable  that  this  very  dissolute  man's  wife, 
Phila,  maintained  all  her  life  the  highest  character  for 
devotion  and  fidelity  to  her  husband,  and  is  specially 
praised  for  having  taken  poison  when  she  despaired  of 
his  success.  None  of  his  vagaries  or  infidelities  ever 
shook  her  constancy.  The  same  high  qualities  are  as- 
cribed to  his  son  Antigonus  (known  as  Gonatas,   and    Antigonus,  son 

...,  ,   •  r     ■»»  in  1  of  Demetrius. 

after  many  vicissitudes  king  of  Macedon),  who  was 
always  most  loyal  to  his  father,  and  offered  his  own 
liberty  to  save  him  from  bondage.  The  wildest  of  the 
successors,  therefore,  must  have  been,  with  all  his  faults, 
a  very  lovable  man.      Probably  the  case  was  not  so  with 

*  All  the  details  about  him  will  be  found  in  Plutarch's  most  interesting  "  Lite 
of  Demetrius,"  Chaps.  XXIII.-XXVIII.,  to  which  I  refer  the  reader,  both  as  the 
verification  of  what  I  say,  and  also  for  many  more  anecdotes  than  I  can  quote. 


248 


A  Survey  of  Greek   Civilization. 


Mercenary 
armies  a  pest  at 
Lhis  period. 


Their  demoral 
izing  effect  on 
SO<  nt\ . 


King  Pyrrhus  of  Epirus,  the  other  great  knight-errant  of 
this  age,  who  seems  not  to  have  been  able  to  fascinate 
women  in  spite  of  his  genius  for  wars  and  that  chivalry 
which  forms  so  attractive  a  chapter  in  early  Roman  his- 
tory. 

The  mercenary  armies  of  these  men  must  have  been 
like  the  armies  which  roamed  about  Germany  in  the 
Thirty  Years'  War,  faithful  only  to  individual  leaders, 
and  to  them  only  so  long  as  they  were  successful  ;  treat- 
ing each  other  in  battle  with  great  consideration,  but  a 
ruthless  pest  to  the  peaceable  population.  Many  of 
these  soldiers  of  fortune  were  not  even  civilized  Greeks, 
but  barbarous  Thracians,  and,  still  more,  barbarous  Gala- 
tians,  who  were  now  pressing  from  the  west  into  the 
Balkan  Peninsula,  and  selling  their  services  to  the  high- 
est bidder.  These  were  the  principal  perpetrators  of 
the  horrible  cruelties  which  we  hear  of  in  this  troubled 
time.  These  were  the  men  who  rifled  the  ancient  tombs 
of  the  Macedonians  and  of  other  kings,  and  who  were 
for  many  a  day  the  terror  of  Asia  Minor,  so  that  the 
main  glory  of  the  Attalid  kings  of  Pergamum  was  to 
have  checked  them,  and  to  have  confined  them  to  their 
new  home  (Galatia).  The  old  respectable  citizen  sol- 
diers had  disappeared.  No  army  fought  except  for  pay  ; 
and  the  first  attempt,  when  two  forces  met,  was  to  settle 
the  dispute  by  offers  of  money.  Very  often  one  side 
would  desert  to  the  other  under  these  circumstances, 
and  the  poorer  man,  however  righteous  his  cause,  would 
find  himself  a  general  without  an  army.  The  general 
effect  of  such  a  system  of  warfare  must  have  been  most 
demoralizing  to  society.  The  habit  of  violence  and 
treachery  does  not  confine  itself  to  those  who  habitually 
and  cynically  practice  it.  "Evil  communications  corrupt 
good   manners."     The  account  of   the  conduct  of   the 


Time  of  Alexander  and  His  Successors.         249 


Athenian   democracy  regarding  the  judicial  murder  of 
Phocion  is  too  significant  not  to  be  quoted  here. 

At  this  juncture  arrived  Alexander,  the  son  of  Polyperchon,* 
with  an  army,  under  pretense  of  assisting  the  city  against  Nica- 
nor ;  but,  in  reality,  to  avail  himself  of  the  fatal  divisions  and 
to  seize  it,  if  possible,  for  himself.  For  the  exiles  who  entered 
the  town  with  him,  the  foreigners,  and  such  citizens  as  had 
been  stigmatized  as  infamous,  with  other  mean  people,  resorted 
to  him,  and  altogether  made  up  a  strange  disorderly  assembly, 
by  whose  suffrage  the  command  was  taken  from  Phocion,  and 
other  generals  appointed.  Had  not  Alexander  been  seen  alone 
near  the  walls  in  conference  with  Nicanor,  and  by  repeated 
interviews  given  the  Athenians  cause  of  suspicion,  the  city 
could  not  have  escaped  the  danger  it  was  in.  Immediately  the 
orator  Agnonides  singled  out  Phocion,  and  accused  him  of 
treason ;  which  so  much  alarmed  Callimedon  and  Pericles 
that  they  fled  out  of  the  city.  Phocion,  with  such  of  his  friends 
as  did  not  forsake  him,  repaired  to  Polyperchon.  Solon  of 
Platiea  and  Dinarchus  of  Corinth,  who  passed  for  the  friends 
and  confidants  of  Polyperchon,  out  of  regard  to  Phocion, 
desired  to  be  of  the  party.  But  Dinarchus  falling  ill  by  the 
way,  they  were  obliged  to  stop  many  days  at  Elatea.  In  the 
meantime,  Archestratus  proposed  a  decree,  and  Agnonides 
got  it  passed,  that  deputies  should  be  sent  to  Polyperchon, 
with  an  accusation  against  Phocion. 

The  two  parties  came  up  to  Polyperchon  at  the  same  time,  as 
he  was  upon  his  march  with  the  king,  near  Pharuges,  a  town  of 
Phocis.  .  .  .  There  Polyperchon  placed  the  king  under  a 
golden  canopy,  and  his  friends  on  each  side  of  him  ;  and, 
before  he  proceeded  to  any  other  business,  gave  orders  that 
Dinarchus  should  be  put  to  the  torture,  and  afterwards  des- 
patched. This  done,  he  gave  the  Athenians  audience.  But  as 
they  filled  the  place  with  noise  and  tumult,  interrupting  each 
other  with  mutual  accusations  to  the  council,  Agnonides 
pressed  forward  and  said,  "  Put  us  all  in  one  cage  and  send  us 
back  to  Athens,  to  give  account  of  our  conduct  there."  The 
king  laughed  at  the  proposal  ;  but  the  Macedonians  who 
attended  on  that  occasion,  and  the  strangers  who  were  drawn 
thither  by  curiosity,  were  desirous  of  hearing  the  cause  ;  and 

*  The  Macedonian  general. 


Plutarch's 
story  of  the 
judicial  murder 
of  Phocion. 


The  decree  of 
Archestratus. 


>5o 


A  Survey  of  Greek   Civilization. 


Tii lair  trial  of 
Phocion  by  the 
king 


He  is  carried  to 
Athens. 


Phocion's 
speech  to  the 
people 


therefore  made  signs  to  the  deputies  to  argue  the  matter  there. 
However  it  was  far  from  being  conducted  with  impartiality. 
Polyperchon  often  interrupted  Phocion,  who  at  last  was  so 
provoked  that  he  struck  his  staff  upon  the  ground  and  would 
speak  no  more.  Hegemon  said,  Polyperchon  himself  could 
bear  witness  to  his  affectionate  regard  for  the  people  ;  and  that 
general  answered,  "  Do  you  come  here  to  slander  me  before 
the  king?"  Upon  this  the  king  started  up  and  was  going  to 
run  Hegemon  through  with  his  spear  ;  but  Polyperchon  pre- 
vented him  ;  and  the  council  broke  up  immediately.  The 
guards  then  surrounded  Phocion  and  his  party,  except  a  few, 
who,  being  at  some  distance,  muffled  themselves  up,  and  fled. 
Clitus  carried  the  prisoners  to  Athens,  under  color  of  having 
them  tried  there,  but,  in  reality,  only  to  have  them  put  to 
death,  as  persons  already  condemned.  The  manner  of  con- 
ducting the  thing  made  it  a  more  melancholy  scene.  The 
prisoners  were  carried  in  carts  through  the  Cerarrricus  to  the 
theater,  where  Clitus  shut  them  up  till  the  archons  had 
assembled  the  people  From  this  assembly  neither  slaves,  nor 
foreigners,  nor  persons  stigmatized  as  infamous  were  excluded  ; 
the  tribunal  and  the  theater  were  open  to  all.  Then  the  king's 
letter  was  read  ;  the  purport  of  which  was  "  That  he  had  found 
the  prisoners  guilty  of  treason  ;  but  that  he  left  it  to  the 
Athenians,  as  free  men  who  were  to  be  governed  by  their  own 
laws,  to  pass  sentence  upon  them."  At  the  same  time  Clitus 
presented  them  to  the  people.  The  best  of  the  citizens,  when 
they  saw  Phocion,  appeared  greatly  dejected,  and  covering 
their  faces  with  their  mantles  began  to  weep.  One,  however, 
had  the  courage  to  say,  "Since  the  king  leaves  the  determina- 
tion of  so  important  a  matter  to  the  people,  it  would  be  proper 
to  command  all  slaves  and  strangers  to  depart."  Rut  the 
populace,  instead  of  agreeing  to  that  motion,  cried  out,  "It 
would  be  much  more  proper  to  stone  all  the  favorers  of 
oligarchy,  all  the  enemies  of  the  people."  After  which  no  one 
attempted  to  offer  anything  in  behalf  of  Phocion.  It  was  with 
much  difficulty  that  he  obtained  permission  to  speak.  At  last, 
silence  being  made,  he  said,  "  Do  you  design  to  take  away  my 
life  justly  or  unjustly?"  Some  of  them  answering,  "Justly," 
he  said,  "  How  can  you  know  whether  it  will  be  justly,  if  you 
do  not  hear  me  first  ?"  As  he  did  not  find  them  inclinable  in 
the  least  to  hear  him,  he  advanced  some  paces  forward  and 


Time  of  Alexander  and  His  Successors.         251 


said,  "Citizens  of  Athens,  I  acknowledge  I  have  done  you 
injustice  ;  and  for  my  faults  in  the  administration  adjudge  my- 
self guilty  of  death  ;  but  why  will  you  put  these  men  to  death 
who  have  never  injured  you?"  The  populace  made  answer, 
"  Because  they  are  friends  to  you."  Upon  which  he  drew  back 
and  resigned  himself  quietly  to  his  fate. 

Agnonides  then  read  the  decree  he  had  prepared  ;  according    The  decree  is 
to  which  the  people  were  to  declare  by  their  suffrages  whether   read- 
the  prisoners  appeared  to  be  guilty  or  not ;    and  if  they  ap- 
peared so,  they  were  to  suffer  death.     When  the  decree  was 
read,  some  called  for  an  additional  clause  for  putting  Phocion 
to  the  torture  before  execution  ;  and  insisted  that  the  rack  and 
its  managers  should  be  sent  for  immediately.     But  Agnonides, 
observing  that  Clitus   was   displeased  at  that  proposal,  and 
looking  upon  it  himself  as  a  barbarous  and  detestable  thing, 
said,  "  When  we  take  that  villain  Callimedon,  let  us  put  him  to 
the  torture  ;  but,  indeed,  my  fellow-citizens,  I  cannot  consent 
that  Phocion  should  have   such  hard  measure."     Upon  this, 
one  of  the  better  disposed  Athenians  cried  out,    "Thou  art 
certainly  right ;  for  if  we  torture  Phocion,  what  must  we  do  to 
thee?"     There  was,  however,  hardly  one  negative  when  the    Heis 
sentence  of  death  was  proposed  ;  all  the  people  gave  their   ™*5™°^jy 
voices  standing  ;  and  some  of  them  even  crowned  themselves 
with  flowers,  as  if  it  had  been  a  matter  of  festivity.    .    .    After 
the  assembly  was  dismissed  the  convicts  were  sent  to  prison. 
The  embraces  of  their  friends  and  relations  melted  them  into 
tears,  and  they  all  went  on  bewailing  their  fate,  except  Pho- 
cion.    His  countenance  was  the  same  as  when  the  people  sent 
him  out  to  command  their  armies  ;  and  the  beholders  could    phocion.s 
not  but    admire    his    invincible    firmness    and  magnanimity,    firmness. 
Some  of  his  enemies,  indeed,  reviled  him  as  he  went  along  ; 
and  one  of  them  even  spit  in  his  face  ;  upon  which,  he  turned 
to    the    magistrates,    and    said,    "Will    nobody   correct    this 
fellow's   rudeness?"     Thudippus,    when  he    saw    the  execu- 
tioners pounding  the   hemlock,  began   to   lament  what  hard 
fortune  it  was  for  him  to  suffer  unjustly  on  Phocion's  account. 
"What  then,"  said  the  venerable  sage,   "dost  thou  not  think 
it  an  honor  to  die  with  Phocion  ?"     One  of  his  friends  asking 
him  whether  he  had  any  commands  to  his  son  ;  "Yes,"  said    h[lIst™agnan" 
he,  "  by  all  means  tell  him  from  me  to  forget  the  ill-treatment 
I  have  had  from  the   Athenians."     And   when   Nicocles,  the 


252  .  /  Survey  of  Greek   Civilization. 


He  drinks  the 


most  faithful  of  his  friends,  begged  that  he  would  let  him 
drink  the  poison  before  him  ;  "This,"  said  he,  "  Nicocles,  is  a 
hard  request  ;  and  the  thing  must  give  me  great  uneasiness  ; 
but  since  I  have  obliged  you  in  every  instance  through  life,  I 
will  do  the  same  in  this."  When  they  came  all  to  drink  the 
quantity  proved  not  sufficient  ;  and  the  executioner  refused  to 
prepare  more,  except  he  had  twelve  drachmas  paid  him,  which 
was  the  price  of  a  full  draught.  As  this  occasioned  a  trouble- 
some delay,     Phocion  called    one    of   his    friends,  and    said, 

hemlock.  "  Since  one  cannot  die  for  nothing  at  Athens,  give  the  man  his 

money."  This  execution  was  on  the  nineteenth  day  of  April 
when  there  was  a  procession  of  horsemen  in  honor  of  Jupiter. 
As  the  cavalcade  passed  by,  some  took  off  their  chaplets  from 
their  heads  ;  others  shed  tears,  as  they  looked  at  the  prison 
doors ;  all  who  had  not  hearts  entirely  savage,  or  were  not 
corrupted  by  rage  and  envy,  looked  upon  it  as  a  most  impious 
thing,  not  to  have  reprieved  them  at  least  for  that  day,  and  so 
to  have  kept  the  city  unpolluted  on  the  festival. 

I  low  ever,  the  enemies  of  Phocion,  as  if  something  had  been 

His  enemies         wanting  to  their  triumph,  got  an  order  that  his  body  should 

refuse  Phocion      not  be  suffered  to  remain  within  the  bounds  of  Attica  ;  nor  that 

funeral  honors.  . 

any  Athenian  should  furnish  lire  for  the  funeral  pile.  There- 
fore no  friend  durst  touch  it ;  but  one  Conopion,  who  lived  by 
such  services,  for  a  sum  of  money  carried  the  corpse  out  of  the 
territories  of  Eleugis,  and  got  fire  for  the  burning  of  it  in  those 
of  Megara.  A  woman  of  Megara  who  happened  to  assist  at 
the  ceremony  with  her  maid  servants  raised  a  cenotaph  upon 
the  spot  and  performed  the  customary  libations.  The  bones 
she  gathered  up  carefully  into  her  lap,  carried  them  by  night  to 
her  own  house,  and  interred  them  under  the  hearth.  At  the 
same   time    she    thus    addressed    the  domestic  gods:     "Ye 

His  bones  are      guardians  of  this  place,  to  you  I  commit  the  remains  of  this 

interred  111  &  ~  *  J 

Megara.  good  man  ;  do  you  restore  them  to  the  sepulcher  of  his  ances- 

tors, when  the  Athenians  shall  once  more  listen  to  the  dictates 
of  wisdom."* 

If  these  things  were  done  at  Athens  which  boasted 
to  be  the  acme  of  culture  and  humanity,  what  would 
happen  in    less    polished    cities?      What  used  to  hap- 


*  Plutarch,  "  Phocion,"  Chaps.  XXXIII.-XXXVI1 


Time  of  Alexander  and  His  Successors.         253 

pen  at  Alexandria,  where  we  know  that  the  mob  at 
times  actually  tore  in  pieces  persons  who  had  of-  fhreu^lby0°f 
fended  it  ?  Nor  is  it  fair  to  say  that  it  was  owing  to  Alexandria. 
the  Egyptian  element  in  the  population  of  that  great 
composite  city.  The  Egyptians  must  have  been  very 
few,  and  the  bloody  riots,  of  which  we  hear,  were  car- 
ried on  not  in  the  Egyptian  quarter,  but  among  the 
Macedonians  and  Greeks,  and  in  the  fashionable  part  of 
the  town.  But  unfortunately  we  only  get  a  glimpse  of 
such  places  as  Alexandria  when  in  riot,  we  can  tell  of 
Athens  in  the  peaceable  and  ordinary  days.  We  have 
some  knowledge  of  both  the  frivolous  and  the  serious 
society  which  inhabited  that  great  center  of  thought  and 
of  idleness.  But  as  both  were  intellectual,  we  can- 
not but  suppose  that  the  outrage  upon  Phocion  must 
have  incurred  the  reprobation  of  many  respectable  peo- 
ple in  that  city.  Nor  would  we  suppress  the  counter- 
balancing case,  of  which  Grote  has  made  so  much.  I 
mean  the  loyalty  and  fidelity  of  the  Athenians  to  Dc-  Magnanimous 
mosthenes,  even  when  his  policy  had  turned  out  a  Demosthenes 
failure,  and  had  brought  the  city  into  the  immediate  Xthenis 
danger  of  capture  by  a  victorious  enemy.  It  was  then 
that  the  firmness  of  the  people,  in  refusing  the  extra- 
dition of  the  heads  of  the  national  party,  shed  the  last 
ray  of  light  upon  the  declining  fortunes  of  the  city. 
The  Athenian  democracy,  like  every  other,  was  capable 
of  noble  acts,  and  performed  them.  It  was  also  capable 
of  panics,  and  of  criminal  follies  prompted  by  paroxysms 
of  terror  or  of  revenge.  These  feelings  are  utterly  in- 
consistent with  each  other,  but  not  with  the  common 
human  nature  in  which  they  reside. 


nans. 


CHAPTER    IX. 


THE    HELLENISTIC  WORLD,    25O-I50  B.    C. 


Rome's  first 
contact  with 
Hellenism  in 
southern  Italv. 


Struggle  be- 
tween Pyrrhus 
and  the  Ro- 
mans. 


When  all  the  immediate  successors  of  Alexander  had 
fought  out  their  troubled  lives  over  the  succession,  and 
had  found  their  ends,  most  of  them  on  the  field  of 
battle  ;  when  even  the  next  generation  of  knight-errants, 
politicians,  opportunists,  had  settled  their  main  differ- 
ences, and  had  definitively  won  or  lost  their  crowns,  the 
Hellenistic  world  settled  down  into  the  complex  thing 
which  ultimately  came  in  contact  with  the  Romans,  and 
was  swallowed  up  by  the  all-devouring  republic. 
During  the  early  days  of  this  period,  Rome  was  still 
struggling  for  the  preeminence  in  Italy,  then  in  Sicily, 
and  the  first  rude  contact  with  Hellenism  was  the  conflict 
in  southern  Italy  with  the  Greek  cities,  and  their  condot- 
tiere,  King  Pyrrhus  of  Epirus.  There  were  stories  cur- 
rent that  Alexander  the  Great  had  thought  of  conquer- 
ing the  Romans,  that  they  had  sent,  among  the  other 
nations  of  the  world,  an  embassy  of  peace  and  of  obser- 
vation to  the  king  of  Babylon.  We  have  no  good  evi- 
dence for  these  stories,  and  we  know  that  during  Alex- 
ander's life,  and  for  years  after  it,  the  Romans  were  very 
busy  subduing  the  Samnites  and  Lucanians,  and  so 
approaching  the  Greek  cities  on  their  southern  coast, 
which  led  to  the  interference  of  Pyrrhus. 

This  conflict,  the  first  between  the  Hellenistic  and 
Italic  powers,  was  most  interesting,  and  has  given  rise 
to  some  of  the  most  characteristic  stories — most  of  them 
inventions — on  the  part  of  the  Roman   historians.     To 

254 


The  Hellenistic    World,   250-150  B.C.         255 


Pyrrhus,  who  was  not  only  a  born  strategist,  but  had 
published  a  treatise  on  his  art,  this  new  military  power 
and  its  methods  of  fighting  must  have  given  many  occa- 
sions for  reflection.  He  saw  immediately  that  he  had  to 
do  with  a  solid  infantry,  such  as  would  conquer  the  Excellenceof 
world  for  him  if  he  could  enlist  it  under  his  banner.  *°™anv 
But  the  prime  difficulty  was  that  this  people  would 
serve  under  no  banner  save  that  of  their  own  republic. 
Pyrrhus  had  been  used,  all  through  his  military  life,  to 
nothing  but  mercenary  armies,  which  consisted  of  men 
ready  to  serve  under  any  successful  and  liberal  master. 
As  soon  as  the  fate  of  a  battle  was  decided,  such  men, 
brought  in  as  prisoners,  were  ready  at  once  to  take  the 
oath  of  allegiance  to  the  victor,  and  transfer  their  battal- 
ions to  his  standard.  But  when  Pyrrhus  had  conquered 
these  Romans  in  a  most  bloody  battle,  he  found  to  his 
astonishment  that  the  prisoners  would  have  nothing  to 
say  to  him.      They  were  Roman  or  Italian  citizens,  not   Roman  soldiers 

J  ,  ,.  ,    not  mercenary. 

mercenaries.  This  therefore  marked  a  deep  line  or 
severance,  deeper  perhaps  than  that  of  language,  in  the 
habits  of  the  East  and  the  western  communities. 

The  Hellenistic  sovereign  who  saw  the  importance  of 
Rome  at  once  was  the  second  Ptolemy.  No  sooner  had 
he  learned  the  result  of  the  war  with  Pyrrhus  than  he 
sent  a  polite  embassy  offering  friendship  and  other  Ptolernv>s 
friendly  relations,  especially  of  trade,  to  the  Romans.  SJJSm.*0*11" 
There  is  still  clear  evidence  in  the  honors  they  conferred 
upon  him,  and  in  the  dignity  of  the  return  embassy 
which  they  sent,  how  deeply  flattered  they  felt  at  this 
attention  from  a  monarch  who  must  naturally  have  re- 
garded them  as  barbarians.  The  splendors  of  Alex- 
andria must  have  affected  the  Roman  envoys  with  aston- 
ishment.     One  practical  result  is  mentioned  by  Pliny,* 

*  "  Natural  History,"  Chap.  XXXIII.,  13. 


256 


A  Survey  of  Greek   Civilization. 


Greek  stoicism   their  great  adversaries 

not  influenced 
bv  Rome. 


The  Stoic 
philosophy. 


The  founders 
of  the  Stoic 
school. 


that  it  was  owing  to  this  visit  the  Romans  learned  to 
coin  (in  269  B.  C.  )  the  silver  coins,  called  consular 
denarii.  * 

But  this  is  the  only  serious  contact  of  the  Romans 
with  the  Hellenistic  world  for  many  years.  The  First 
Punic  War  occupied  all  their  energies,  and  their  friend 
Ptolemy  only  helped  them  by  refusing  to  lend  money  to 

It  is  worth  noting  these  facts 
particularly,  lest  it  might  be  imagined  that  Roman 
seriousness  had  anything  to  say  to  the  serious  aspects 
of  Greek  life  in  the  third  century  B.  C.  There  is  so 
much  that  is  Roman  associated  with  Stoicism  as  to  pro- 
duce a  sort  of  general  impression  that  it  was  essentially, 
or  at  least  mainly,  an  outcome  of  the  Roman  gravitas. 
Nothing  is  further  from  the  truth.  If  Stoicism  was  not 
purely  Hellenic,  it  was  distinctly  oriental,  rather  than 
occidental. 

I  cannot  do  better  than  begin  this  sketch  of  the  inner 
life  of  the  best  period  of  Hellenism  by  considering  its 
most  serious  and  permanent  feature,  and  therefore  I 
shall  start  at  once  with  that  Stoicism  which  survives  to 
the  present  day,  one  of  the  great  legacies  of  the  Greek 
mind  to  the  world.  It  originated,  as  I  have  just  said, 
in  the  eastern  limits  of  Hellenism,  and  in  contact  with 
foreign,  apparently  Semitic  races,  which  were  brought 
into  contact  with  Greeks.  The  proper  home  of  the 
Greeks  had  nothing  to  say  to  it,  beyond  the  accepting 
and  following  the  doctrine  which  came  from  the  East. 
Of  the  three  great  teachers,  who  like  the  three  great 
tragic  poets  formed  a  group  never  again  equalled, 
Zeno  and  Chrysippus  came  from  the  island  of  Cyprus, 
Cleanthes,  whose  extant  hymn  is  a  noble  prayer,  came 
from  Assos,  not  very  far  from   the  site   of  Troy.      But 

*  Cf.  my  "  Empire  of  the  Ptolemies,"  page  489. 


The  Hellenistic    World,   230-150  B.    C.         257 


besides  Cyprus,  the  opposite  coast  of  Asia  Minor,  Lycia, 
and  rough  Pisidia,  showed  a  strong  inclination  for  this 
doctrine.  Tarsus  was  long  a  well-known  school  of  this 
philosophy,  till  it  sent  forth  one  of  its  most  brilliant  pu- 
pils, Saul,  who  under  his  changed  name  and  faith  pre- 
served very  much  of  the  Stoic  spirit,  and  not  a  little  of 
Stoic  doctrine.  Zeno,  the  second  philosopher  of  the  zeno. 
name,*  though  probably  a  half-bred  Greek,  with  Phe- 
nician  blood  in  his  veins,  enjoyed  a  high  and  deserved 
reputation  throughout  all  the  Hellenistic  world,  and  es- 
pecially at  Athens.  We  hear  that  he  earned  the  favor 
and  respect  of  Antigonus  Gonatas,  the  excellent  king  of 
Macedonia.  He  is  even  called  the  tutor  of  that  prince, 
who  strove  to  bring  him  from  Athens  to  his  court  and 
who  gave  him  a  public  funeral  in  the  Ceramicus,  when 
he  was  besieging  Athens  in  the  Chremonidean  War 
(264  B.  C. ).  Yet  he  was  a  very  simple  and  even  rude- 
spoken  man,  of  great  parsimony,  writing  in  a  bad  dia- 
lect, using  foreign  words,  and,  still  more,  setting  forth 
very  strange  doctrines.  For  in  imitation  of  Diogenes 
the  Cynic,  who  was  one  of  his  teachers,  he  published  an 
ideal  sketch  of  a  "Republic,"  as  Plato  had  done,  but  "tfc?SliWkal" 
one  which  displayed  the  most  trenchant  and  disgusting 
socialism.  Not  a  single  one  of  the  sentiments  of  ordi- 
nary men  concerning  the  rights  of  property,  the  rights 
of  marriage,  the  avoidance  of  certain  unions  as  inces- 
tuous or  odious,  were  respected  by  him.  All  things 
were  to  be  in  common,  and  all  men  bound  together 
merely  by  mutual  affection.  Indeed,  the  work  was  so 
offensive  in  many  respects  that  later  Stoics,  especially 
at  Pergamum,  tried  hard  to  prove  it  spurious. 

Of  his  pupils  Cleanthes,  the  most  famous,  was  so  poor  cieanthes. 


*  The  older  Zeno  (of  Elea)  was  a  subtle  metaphysician,  wholly  disconnected 
from  the  present  subject. 


258  A  Survey  of  Greek   Civilization. 


that  he  was  obliged  to  support  himself  as  a  day  laborer 
while  he  attended  the  lectures  of  Zeno.  He  too  was 
without  grace  of  diction  or  elegance  of  manners. 
Though  coming  from  a  truly  Greek  town,  he  seems  to 
have  affected  his  master's  contempt  for  style.  Yet  he 
too  had  friendly  relations  with  royalty,  though  he  chose 
the  very  un-Stoic  second  Ptolemy  as  his  friend,  and 
sent  him  a  pupil  when  invited  to  go  himself  and  live  at 
the  Museum. 

Chrysippus.  The  systematizing  of  the  doctrines   of  these  and  the 

other  Stoics  was  done  by  Chrysippus,  who  taught  in  the 
latter  half  of  the  third  century  B.  C.  and  whose  literary 

His  literary  activity — seven  hundred  and  five  separate  books  or 
tracts — was  such  that  the  saying  went  abroad,  ' '  No 
Chrysippus,  no  Stoa."  The  Stoa  was  the  colonnade 
with  frescoes  on  its  inner  wall  in  which  Zeno  had  walked 
up  and  down  while  discoursing  with  his  favorite  pupils. 
Chrysippus  is  noted  for  having  no  relations  with  kings, 
and  this  seemed  to  men  of  that  day  extraordinary  ;  but 
it  was  more  consistent  with  a  Stoic  life,  and  with  the 
rude  manners  and  careless  dress  affected  by  the  school. 
In  what,  then,  consisted  the  extraordinary  dignity 
,    and  importance  of  the  Stoic  creed  ?     Why  has  it  lasted 

The  nobility  of  r  _  •11 

the  Stoic  creed,  from  that  day  to  this  as  the  symbol  of  a  certain  lofty 
type  of  human  nature  ?  Because  it  was  a  noble  creed 
in  itself  ;  also  because  it  set  itself  against  the  opposite 
theory  of  Epicurus,  and  fought  hard  for  the  dignity  of 
the  human  soul.  To  the  Stoic  the  whole  world  was 
under  the  control  of  a  single  guiding  providence,  or 
even  with  some  of  the  school  the  whole  world  was  but  a 
manifestation  of  that  eternal  Being,  in  whom,  as  St. 
Paul  cites  their  words,  "we  live,  and  move,  and  have 
our  being."      This  is  what  we  now  call    pantheism,  the 

Stoil   ]>;inthe-  ......  .  r,     .  r       , 

ism.  doctrine  that  there  is  but  one  immense  Being,  01  whom 


The  Hellenistic    World,  250-150  B.    C.         259 

all  the  world  that  we  see  and  know  is  but  a  manifesta- 
tion :  ' '  The  gods  are  his  laughter,  the  race  of  mortal 
men  his  tears,"  says  a  late  and  obscure  follower,  using  a 
huge  metaphor. 

But  if  it  has  been  cast  up  to  the  pantheist  that  he 
destroys  all  moral  responsibility,  by  destroying  the  dis- 
tinct individuality  of  each  man,  we  might  answer  for  him 
by  quoting  the  parallel  and  perfectly  logical  accusation  Parallel  of 
brought  against  the  Calvinist,  that  he  destroyed  the  Caivinists. 
same  moral  responsibility  by  abolishing  all  human  free- 
dom. Though  both  arguments  are  logical,  both  are  in 
fact  false  ;  for  no  men  have  been  more  stringent  in  re- 
quiring moral  duties  from  men  than  the  Stoic  panthe- 
ist and  the  Calvinist  necessitarian.  The  duty  of  man 
was  to  learn  the  course  and  will  of  providence,  and  to 
shape  his  life  accordingly.  He  had  not  been  put  into 
the  world  to  enjoy  himself,  nor  was  pleasure,  as  some 
said,  the  end  of  life,  but  to  forward,  so  far  as  in  him  lay, 
the  course  of  divine  order  in  the  world.  That  world, 
the  Stoic  held,  was  not  eternal,  but  would  once  and 
again  be  destroyed  by  fire.  Nevertheless,  when  a  man 
had  grasped  that  by  his  reason  God  had  made  him  a  par- 
ticipator in  the  working  out  of  his  providence,  and  that 
there  was  a  principle  to  be  followed  out,  in  always  act- 
ing according  to  the  highest  laws  of  nature,  then  the 
Stoic  sage  became  the  forerunner  of  the  Puritan  in  many  stoic  sage  the 

111  1  •  forerunner  of 

curious  ways.  He  was  suddenly  and  sometimes  even  the  Puritan, 
unconsciously  transformed  from  a  fool,  whose  every 
action  was  wanting  in  principle,  into  a  state  of  enlighten- 
ment or  grace,  differing  in  kind  from  his  former  state. 
There  was  no  gradual  approach  to  this  salvation.  As 
a  man  in  the  water  was  drowned,  whether  he  was  six  feet 
or  six  inches  under  the  surface,  and  gained  no  safety  till 
his  head  was  above  water  ;  as  the  puppy  born  blind  saw 


260  A  Survey  of  Greek   Civilization. 


as  little  the  eighth  day  as  the  first,  so  the  fool  who 
thought  to  make  some  progress  toward  wisdom  had 
gained  nothing  till  the  real  light  suddenly  dawned  upon 
him.  Then  he  became  absolutely  free  from  vice  or  from 
misfortune,  for  nothing  could  shackle  his  mind,  and  he 
could  leave  his  body  like  a  garment  in  the  hands  of  the 
tyrant  or  persecutor,  if  imprisonment  or  torture  threat- 
ened him.  Nay,  he  was  rich  with  unfailing  treasure 
though  poor  ;  he  was  perfectly  satisfied,  though  hungry  ; 
he  was  a  king,  though  in  the  condition  of  a  slave.  No 
one  can  therefore  mistake  the  Stoic  source  of  St.  Paul's 

st.  Paul  and  famous  passage:  "as  deceivers,  and  yet  true;  as  un- 
known and  yet  well  known  ;  as  dying,  and  behold,  we 
live  ;  as  sorrowful,  yet  always  rejoicing  ;  as  poor,  yet 
making  many  rich  ;  as  having  nothing,  yet  possessing 
all  things."* 

He  held,  then,  the  theological  doctrine  of  assurance 
in  the  highest  degree,  and  as  the  sage  was  incapable  of 
sin,  so  the  righteousness  of  the  fool  was  but  dross,  his 
virtue  of  no  merit,  his  pretended  knowledge  utter  igno- 
rance. This  gave  the  individual  wise  man  a  dangerous 
right  to  dictate  to  the  world,  and  so  to  interfere  in  poli- 
tics, though  philosophers  as  a  rule  professed  to  with- 
draw from  the  arena  of  debate  and  chicanery,  and  re- 
fused to  advise  the  turbulent  democracies  in  which  they 
lived.  But  the  Stoics  never  refused  to  advise  a  tyrant, 
or  single  ruler,  if  he  would  take  their  advice  ;  not  un- 
frequently  they  joined  in  removing  him,  if  he  were 
vicious  ;  and  no  conspirator  was  so  dangerous  as  the 
man  who  despised  death  and  tortures  in  comparison 
with  the  carrying  out  of  his  convictions. 

Opposed  The  opposed  system  of  Epicurus  had   many  points  in 

Epicurus  *  2  Corinthians  VI.,  8  so.     Our  fullest  account  of  these  Stoics  is  in  the  third 

book  of  Cicero's  treatise     De  Finibus."    We  have  also  Diogenes  Laertius  on 
the  lives  of  the  masters. 


The  Hellenistic    World,   250-150  B.    C.         26  r 


common  with  this  lofty  system,  and  was  in  many  re- 
spects also  more  comprehensible  to  the  average  man. 
Epicurus  also  asserted  that  happiness  could  be  obtained 
in  this  life,  but  only  by  the  true  sage.  But  he  started 
not  from  the  conception  of  falling  in  with  the  ways  of 
providence,  but  from  the  pursuit  of  pleasure,  an  instinct 
ingrained  in  every  animal,  which  only  wanted  proper  ex- 
planation and  purification  to  be  an  adequate  philosoph- 
ical theory  of  life.  For,  after  all,  human  pleasure  was 
mostly  the  avoidance  of  pain  ;  the  denial  of  violent  pas- 
sions in  order  to  attain  reasonable  and  permanent  hap- 
piness. 

This  quietism  of  Epicurus  was  more  Greek  in  its 
character,  more  logical  too,  and  practical,  and  so  within 
the  reach  of  the  large  number  of  average  people  who 
could  not  grasp  the  ideal  of  Zeno.  But  it  was  also 
liable  to  grave  misconstructions,  and  was  denounced 
from  the  beginning  as  an  apology  for  the  votaries  of  any 
lawless  pleasure. 

Yet  nothing  could  be  purer  and  more  Stoical  than 
Epicurus' s  own  life.  He  took  care  to  show  by  his  life 
and  doctrine  that  pleasures  of  sense  are  fleeting,  and, 
when  excessive,  involve  great  consequent  pains,  that  our 
interest,  when  rightly  understood,  leads  us  to  prefer 
mental  to  bodily  pleasure — the  delights  of  memory,  of 
imagination,  and  of  hope,  to  the  tumults  of  passion. 
Thus  virtue  came  to  be  identical  with  the  longest  and 
greatest  pleasure,  and  duty  coincident  with  interest. 
He  declared  also  that  the  happiness  of  the  wise  man  was 
independent  of  fortune,  and  even  compatible  with  pov- 
erty and  pain.  He  divided  scanty  rations  among  his 
pupils  with  perfect  contentment  during  the  famine  of  a 
long  siege.  He  asserted  his  perfect  happiness  when 
dying  slowly  of  an  agonizing  disease.     Though   he  re- 


Doctrine  of 

pleasure. 


Epicurean  doc- 
trine open  to 
miscon- 
struction. 


Purity  of  per- 
sonal life  of 
Epicurus. 


Pleasure  and 
virtue  identi- 
fied. 


262 


A  Survey  of  Greek   Civilization. 


Consistency  of 

Epicurus. 


Lucretius 
the  Roman 
Epicurean. 


Attraction  of 
Epicureanism 
for  the  scien- 
tific mind. 


Skepticism  not 
yel  fashionable. 


garded  the  basis  of  friendship  to  be  mutual  profit,  no 
one  was  more  sentimental  in  his  attachments.*  This  is 
indeed  the  most  prominent  feature  in  the  long  and  ex- 
plicit account  of  his  life  and  writings  left  us  by  Diogenes 
Laertius.  We  see  too  in  the  great  poem  of  Lucretius 
with  what  majesty  this  advocacy  of  pleasure  could  be 
stated.  But  in  the  day  of  its  birth,  the  real  moment  of 
the  doctrine  lay  in  its  satisfying  the  want  of  that  other 
kind  of  mind  which  revolts  from  Stoicism,  which  desires 
a  clear  reason,  and  a  practical  one,  for  every  action, 
which  desires  to  get  rid  of  false  theory  and  traditional 
wisdom,  which  is  sick  of  politics  and  discontented  with 
traditional  faith,  and  yet  will  not  be  satisfied  with  mere 
skepticism.  To  such  tame,  unpoetical  natures  Epicurus 
offered  a  system  based  directly  on  what  they  could  see 
and  feel,  on  the  pursuit  of  such  satisfaction  as  they  all 
understood,  on  the  putting  aside  of  religion  as  a  system 
of  control  or  a  source  of  fear,  and  supplanting  it  with  a 
scientific  creed,  a  large  and  distinct  body  of  doctrine. 

For  this,  too,  is  to  be  noted  in  that  age,  that  it  was 
not  prepared  for  trenchant  skepticism.  Such  a  system 
was  tried  by  Pyrrho  of  Elis,  but  in  spite  of  his  followers. 
Timon  and  yEnesidemus,  he  made  no  large  school  and 
left  but  small  traces  on  Greek  thought.  The  days  were 
not  yet  come  when  the  Platonists  turned  skeptics  and 
brought  the  world  round  with  them  ;  it  was  still  the  age 
of  positive  teaching,  of  a  firm  belief  that  knowledge  was 
attainable,  of  the  substitution  of  philosophic  creeds  for 
the  old  religions.  Second-rate  people  went  in  crowds 
to   the  second-rate   successors   of    Plato  and  Aristotle, 

•  Upon  this  Wilamowitz  ("  Aniigonus  of  Karystos,"  page  93,  note)  has  well 
remarked,  that  it  met  one  of  the  chief  tendencies  of  the  age.  It  was  a  day 
when  other  bonds  among  men  had  given  way,  when  patriotism  felt  itself  all 
astray,  when  the  ties  of  family  and  of  creed  were  loosened.  Then  it  was  that 
the  eternal,  ineradicable  bond  of  personal  sympathy  and  of  personal  attach- 
ment came  into  the  foreground,  ami  was  embraced  even  by  such  a  system  as 
that  of  Epicurus,  which  logically  seemed  to  contradict  it. 


The  Hellenistic    World,   250-150  B.    C.         263 


whose  schools  were  now  well  established  at  Athens. 
But  Xenocrates  and  Theophrastus  could  only  lead  such 
men  as  Demetrius  of  Phaleron,  or  Menander,  and  what 
they  taught  was  not  life  but  learning.  Hence  we  may 
be  sure  that  if  the  lesser  number  frequented  the  Stoa  or 
the  Garden,  to  hear  men  who  were  strangers  in  birth  or   Select  following 

°  of  Stoics  and 

in  education,  but  stranger  still  in  their  creed,  these  few   Epicureans. 
were  indeed  the  solid  and  thoughtful  minds  of  the  day. 

It  is  not  at  Athens  only,  but  in  many  cities  of  Greece — 
at  Corinth,  Elis,  Colophon,  Heraclea  in  Pontus — that 
this  sober  and  serious  teaching  made  men  look  away 
from  the  folly,  the  turmoil,  the  war  which  racked 
the  Hellenic  world  for  forty  years,  to  what  true  and 
solid  satisfaction  was  still  attainable.  The  Greek  who 
lost  his  autonomy  politically  regained  it  spiritually,  and 
reasserted  this  new  and  greater  liberty  without  elegance, 
with  contempt  of  style,  but  with  the  sincerity  of  a  deep 
conviction.  The  exquisite  prose  of  Plato  could  not  EPjcurean  a„a 
hold  its  place  against  the  bald  aphorisms  of  Epicurus  or  of°s\cvi<?ntempt 
the  clumsy  arguments  of  the  Cypriote  Zeno.  These 
men  openly  despised  any  quality  in  style  except  clear- 
ness, and  we  may  be  sure  that  in  this  they  appealed 
to  the  sense  of  their  public,  which  was  tired  of  idle 
rhetoric. 

Such  were  the  principal  systems  which  emerged  from 
the  agitated  times  of  the  early  Diadochi.  As  Adam  Smith 
observed  long  ago,  the  circumstances  of  life,  which  may 
best  be  compared  to  the  Thirty  Years'  War  in  Germany, 
made  it  quite  probable  that  any  man  in  any  city, 
however    peaceful    he   was,    however    neutral    his    city   insecurity  of 

,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  q.  .  the  period 

endeavored  to  be,  would  some  day  sutler  in  an  invasion,    following 
have  his  property  plundered,  his  family  enslaved,  and 
himself  exposed  to  destitution,   if  not  to  a  violent  and 
unjust  death.       Hence  it  was  vital,  as  it  was  in  the  early 


264 


A  Survey  of  Greek   Civilization. 


Stoic  and  Epi- 
curean systems 
meet  a  vital 
need  of  the  age. 


Permanance  of 
Stoic  and  Epi- 
curean types. 


The  age  as 
reflected  in 
corned v. 


Menander. 


Christian  ages,  to  preach  a  doctrine  which  would  offer 
grounds  to  despise  such  ills  of  fortune,  to  stand  firm 
under  tyranny  and  oppression,  to  value  life  not  as  a 
priceless  jewel,  but  as  a  thing  only  worth  having  under 
reasonable  conditions.  As  I  said  before,  these  practical 
systems  of  life  embrace  all  that  has  ever  been  thought 
out  since  by  men,  apart  from  divine  revelation.  Setting 
apart  as  exceptional  and  less  important  the  modern 
cynic,  the  conscientious  skeptic,  both  of  whom  had 
their  counterpart,  as  they  also  found  their  names  among 
the  schools  of  ancient  Greece,  there  remain  the  two 
frames  of  mind,  the  Stoical  and  the  Epicurean,  which 
divide  the  world.  Far  the  majority  is  Epicurean  ;  far 
the  highest  and  finest  natures  are  Stoical.  Whatever 
their  dogmas,  whatever  their  creed,  these  types  are  to  be 
met  with  in  every  society,  and  will  be  met  with  so  long 
as  human  nature  remains  the  same. 

I  turn  now  to  the  inferior  side  of  the  picture,  and, 
having  endeavored  to  portray  the  earnest  and  thinking 
classes,  will  say  something  of  the  idle  and  frivolous  peo- 
ple, who  then,  as  now,  formed  a  large  part  of  the  most 
fashionable  society  in  each  decaying  town  of  Greece. 
Our  information  we  owe  to  the  writers  of  genteel 
comedy,  who  have  left  us  innumerable  fragments  though 
not  a  single  complete  play.  We  have  from  several 
of  them,  Philemon,  Diphilus,  Menander,  passages  of 
description,  of  reflection,  of  worldly  wisdom,  of  stage 
folly,  which  give  us  adequate  materials  for  a  judgment, 
not  to  speak  of  the  Latin  versions,  for  they  are  little 
more  than  translations,  left  us  by  Terence.  The  grace 
and  the  elegance  of  Menander  are  manifest  even  in  the 
Latin  version,  and  justify  the  well-known  panegyric  : 
"  Oh,  Menander  and  Life,  which  of  you  has  copied  the 
other5" 


The  Hellenistic    World,   250-150  B.    C.         265 


But  when  all  has  been  said  that  ought  to  be,  or 
can  be,  in  praise  of  Menander's  style,  and  when  we 
come  to  inquire  from  him  and  from  the  New  Comedy 
what  they  have  to  tell  us  about  their  age,  the  outcome 
is  miserably  small.  They  appear  indifferent  regarding 
all  the  great  events  of  the  day,  all  large  political  in- 
terests, all  serious  philosophy,  and  eager  to  reflect 
the  idlest,  the  most  trivial,  and  the  most  decayed  gentil-   Comedy  dealt 

J  °  with  the  trivial 

itv  of  Athens.      They  do  not  even  invent  new  scenery,    side  of  Athe- 

J  J  J J     man  life. 

new  framework,  to  convey  their  elegancies  to  the  audi- 
ence. Starting  from  a  commonplace  as  old  as  Aristopha- 
nes, the  "rape  and  recognition  "  of  some  respectable 
and  therefore  wholly  insignificant  girl,  they  added  a  few 
other  stock  characters  —  the  young  and  fashionable 
spendthrift,  the  morose  and  stingy  father,  the  indignant 
uncle,  the  threadbare  parasite,  the  harpy  courtesan,  and 
by  ringing  the  changes  upon  these  constituents  of 
decayed  and  idle  Attic  society  produced  a  whole  litera- 
ture of  graceful  talk,  polite  immorality,  selfish  ethics, 
and  shallow  character.  It  is  usual  to  lament  the  irrepa- 
rable loss  of  the  plays  of  Menander,  but  it  may  be 
doubted  whether,  apart  from  style,  history  would  gain 
from  a  further  knowledge  of  them.  We  have  his  senti- 
ments, and  those  of  Diphilus  and  Philemon,  in  hundreds 
of  fragments  ;  we  have  rude  copies,  too  rude  to  imply 
alterations  of  much  import,  in  the  collection  of  Plautine 
plays,  and  in  Terence.  We  may  feel  confident  that,  ex- 
cept by  some  stray  allusion,  the  rest  would  have  told  us 
little  more  of  the  history,  the  manners,  or  the  real  life  of 
the  age. 

This  generality  of  treatment,    this   absence    of   local  for 

color,  this  avoidance  of  the  special  interests  of  the  age —  barton' oVuie" 
this  it  is  which  has  given  the  New  Comedy  its  popular-  New  Comedy 
ity  among  widely  different  ages  and  people.       Thus  the 


266 


A  Survey  of  Greek   Civilization. 


Narrowness 
of  the  New 
Comedv. 


"Characters  of 
Theophrastus  " 
criticised. 


rude  and  barbarous  Romans,  though  their  society  was 
infinitely  purer,  and  in  other  respects  at  total  variance 
with  that  implied  in  the  New  Comedy,  could  neverthe- 
less understand  the  miser  and  the  spendthrift,  the  skep- 
tic and  the  superstitious,  the  matron  and  the  courtesan 
there  painted  in  their  universal  characteristics  ;  while  the 
plays  of  Aristophanes,  or  even  the  literary  and  philosoph- 
ical criticism  of  the  so-called  Middle  Comedy,  were  to 
them  wholly  unintelligible.  Even  later  Greeks  like 
Plutarch  felt  this,  and  knew  that,  while  Aristophanes 
was  only  to  be  fully  understood  by  those  who  under- 
stood Periclean  Athens,  the  later  comedy  might  be  acted 
at  Antioch  or  Alexandria  or  Seleucia  on  the  Tigris  as 
well  as  in  Greece.  And  yet  with  this  quasi-philosophical 
generality,  how  narrow  it  all  was  !  If,  instead  of  bitter 
and  scurrilous  allusions  to  great  personages,  which  were 
frequent  enough,  and  innuendos  against  virtue  and 
morals,  they  had  boldly  painted  Demetrius  the  Besieger, 
or  the  Philosopher,  or  Cassander's  pedant  brother,  or  the 
conceited  artists  of  the  day,  what  far  deeper  instruction 
they  would  have  left  us  !  Their  personages  are  like  the 
ingenious  variations  of  second-rate  composers  upon  a 
well-known  melody,  which  exhibit  grace  and  ingenuity 
but  enrich  us  with  no  new  feeling.  A  single  national 
air,  with  its  inexpressible  charm  of  distinct  local  color — 
in  fact,  of  originality — is  worth  a  whole  world  of  these 
variations. 

The  same  criticism  applies  to  the  tract  known  as  the 
"  Characters  of  Theophrastus,"  a  book  far  more  praised 
than  it  deserves.  In  the  form  now  extant  it  gives  a 
series  of  portraits  of  various  social  vices — all  of  them 
forms  of  littleness  or  meanness  such  as  are  the  character- 
istics of  a  shabby  and  idle  society.  Moreover,  the  draw- 
ing of  these  characters  is  not  psychologically  subtle,  as 


The  Hellenistic    World,   250-150  B.    C.         267 


is  often  asserted.  The  features  brought  out  are  rather 
those  intended  for  stage  characters  than  those  drawn 
from  a  careful  observation  of  real  life.* 

Theophrastus's  book  has  to  me  the  air  of  a  treatise  not  ^^  hrastus,s 
copied  from  the  New  Comedy,  as  has  been  suggested,    book  perhaps  a 

r  ■>  '-"-'  handbook  for 

but  rather  composed  as  a  handbook  of  characters  for  a  writers  of 

r  .  comedies. 

young  author  intending  to  write  such  comedies.  It  was 
then  the  fashion  to  have  recourse  to  philosophers,  and 
to  take  their  advice  on  most  matters  of  life.  They  were 
supposed  to  know  human  character  better  than  their 
neighbors.  Menander  himself,  though  his  practical  phi- 
losophy was  distinctly  that  of  his  friend  Epicurus, 
studied  in  this  very  Peripatetic  school  of  Theophrastus, 
whose  distinctive  feature  was  the  attention  to  natural 
history  of  every  kind,  from  stones  and  plants  to  piety 
and  pride.  So  Bolingbroke  drew  up  on  human  nature  a 
series  of  propositions  which  Pope  undertook  to  adorn 
with  his  splendid  style  in  the  famous  "  Essay  on  Man." 
But  in  the  ' '  Characters "  it  is  the  nature  of  man  as 
shown  in  an  idle  and  decaying  provincial  society — the 
passions  and  pursuits  of  people  with  no  public  spirit  or 
interests  ;  the  virtues  are  omitted,  even  the  stronger 
vices,  and  all  the  changes  rung  upon  the  foibles  and 
vulgarities  of  every-day  life. 

This  tedious  itching  to  describe  types  equally  infects   picsearchuss 

r  '      /~>  1     r.  1         .1  description  of 

the  fragments  of  a  tour  in  Greece  left  us  under  the  name  types, 
of  Dicaearchus.     The  writer  not  only  professes  to  give  a 
distinct    character  to  the  inhabitants  of  each  town  he 
names   in   Bceotia,   but   even  draws  distinctions  of  this 
kind  between  the  people  of  Attica  and  the  Athenians. 


*  How  far  the  fourth  book  of  Aristotle's  "  Ethics  "  may  have  been  intended 
to  give  sketches  of  real  life  is  not  easy  to  say.  The  famous  portrait  of  the 
"  great-souled  man  "  seems  to  me  more  of  a  stage  character  than  anything 
else.  "  His  voice  must  be  deep,  and  his  step  slow  "  seems  to  me  very  like  a 
theatrical  suggestion.  But  so  large  and  controversial  a  question  must  not  be 
raised  here. 


268 


A  Survey  of  Greek   Civilization. 


Greek  comedy 
reflected  by 
Plautus  and 
Terence. 


Typical  char- 
acters in  the 
New  Comedv. 


Such  refinements  might  be  serviceable  for  a  stage  bound 
by  the  shackles  of  tradition.  In  a  would-be  observer  of 
real  life  it  leads  us  to  doubt  his  accuracy  in  cases  where 
a  real  distinction  existed. 

Through  the  troubled  medium  of  Plautus,  as  well  as 
through  the  more  colorless  Terence,  we  can  perfectly 
well  recover  what  types  of  life  were  represented  on  the 
Attic  stage.  Any  personal  allusions,  indeed,  which 
would  have  told  us  some  of  the  history  of  political  feel- 
ing, are  left  out.  Perhaps  the  plays  which  had  a  little 
more  than  the  slightest  local  color  were  not  translated  by 
the  Latin  copyists,  who  could  not  postulate  in  their 
audience  any  knowledge  of  eastern  history.  But  all  the 
personages,  the  scenes,  the  manners  of  the  comcedia 
pallida  of  the  Romans  were  Attic.  If  then  we  were  to 
believe  these  elaborate  studies  of  manners  in  Alexander's 
and  his  successors'  days,  the  life  of  youth  consisted  in 
drinking,  in  squandering  money,  nay  even  in  committing 
the  worst  kind  of  felony  without  the  punishment  of 
much  remorse.  The  young  man  who  is  strictly  brought 
up  has  to  stay  in  the  country  and  help  to  mind  the  farm. 
But  how  complete  and  oppressive  an  exile  this  was  con- 
sidered appears  from  a  curious  comparison  in  the  tourist 
just  cited  (Chapter  IV.)  :  "To  sum  up,  as  far  as  the 
rest  of  cities  surpass  the  country  for  the  pleasure  and  the 
right  7ise  of  life,  so  far  again  does  Athens  exceed  them." 

Accordingly  the  sympathy  of  the  audience  is  warmly 
enlisted  for  the  oppressed  youth  who  escapes  by  strata- 
gem from  his  watchful  father  and  comes  to  spend  a  night 
of  riot  in  the  city.  He  does  this  too  with  the  connivance 
of  elders,  and  through  the  machinations  of  a  "faith- 
ful "  slave.  For  old  men  are  divided  into  two  opposed 
classes.  The  one  is  thrifty,  morose,  hard,  censorious  ; 
the  other  indulgent,  generous,   lax  in   morals.      If  two 


The  Hellenistic    World,    250-150  B.    C.         269 


old  men  appear  in  a  play  they  are  generally  brothers, 
and  generally  opposed  in  this  way.  The  mothers  of  the 
house  are  either  imperious  heiresses,  who  lead  their 
weak  and  sneaking  husbands  no  pleasant  life,  or  more 
respectable  ciphers,  the  mothers  of  girls  who  innocently 
fall  into  the  most  serious  mischief,  and  are  only  saved 
from  ruin  by  what  an  Irish  judge  called  "the  fortuitous 
interference  of  providence."  If  the  attending  of  night 
festivals  was  (as  the  stock  incident  of  these  plays  im-  f^P'018  of 
plies)  so  disastrous  to  the  character  of  respectable  girls,  Comedy. 
one  is  at  a  loss  to  know  how  any  Attic  father  or  mother 
should  have  allowed  it.  We  may  therefore  fairly  as- 
sume that  this  theatrical  commonplace,  though  not 
unheard  of,  was  almost  as  rare  in  real  life  as  it  is  now  in 
connection  with  religious  night  services.  It  is  certainly 
no  mirror  of  ordinary  Greek  life. 

I  wish  I  could  affirm  that  the  frequent  stage  cases  of 

Exposure  of 

exposed  children,   especially  girls,   brought  up  by  the   infants. 

worst  kind  of  slave-dealers,   were  equally  rare  in  real 

life.      But  with  the  increase  of  both  wealth  and  poverty 

in  these  stormy  days,  when  the  requirements  of  genteel 

life  were  greater,  and  the  means  of  meeting  them  not 

forthcoming,  the  exposing  of  female  infants  may  have 

been  one  of   the  causes  contributing   to  the    alarming 

decrease  of  population  in  the  next  century.     For  though 

it  may  have  been  so  far  humanely  contrived  that  the 

infant  seldom  perished,  those  who  saved  it  from  death 

were  not  likely  to  do  so  for  the  purpose  of  hereafter 

making  it  the  mother  of  a  family.      Still  there  is  one 

circumstance  about  this  matter  of  exposure  which  makes 

me  suspect  its  frequency.      In  all  the  plays  and  frag-   fr^uentVs0^8 

ments    we  have   I   cannot  remember   a  case  occurring  from  comedy. 

during   the  action  of  the  play.     There  is   no    case,  for 

example,  of  the  finding  of  such  a  child,  when  exposed 


270 


A  Survey  of  Greek  Civilization. 


Adherence  to 
fixed  types  in 
comedv. 


Narrow 
Atticism  in 
Menander's 
period. 


by  its  desolate  and  ruined  young  mother,  leading  to  its 
recognition  by  the  peccant  father,  and  its  consequent 
rehabilitation.  There  is  no  lamentation  that  when  a 
child  is  born  it  will  have  to  be  exposed.  All  the  cases 
of  exposure  mentioned  are  in  the  past,  and  happened  far 
away.  Have  we  then  before  us  merely  another  fiction 
of  the  stage  ? 

So  strict  was  the  adherence  of  all  Greek  art,  even  the 
best  and  greatest,  to  fixed  models,  that  if  one  great 
master  sanctioned  this  device  we  may  be  certain  to  find 
hundreds  of  direct  imitations,  and  so  the  pedants  of 
after  days  are  led  away  to  state  as  natural,  or  as  ordi- 
nary, what  is  really  the  invention  of  a  single  brain.  In 
all  our  social  inferences  from  Greek  literature  caution  on 
this  point  is  of  capital  importance.  Thus  every  heiress 
in  the  plays  is  imperious,  disagreeable,  disgusting  to  her 
husband,  often  indeed  only  because  she  will  not  tolerate 
his  immoralities.  Of  course  there  were  at  Athens  and 
throughout  Greece  plenty  of  amiable  heiresses — thou- 
sands who  had  not  bowed  the  knee  to  Mammon.  If  we 
believe  the  New  Comedy  there  were  none.  So  also 
there  is  no  color  in  any  profession  save  one.  The 
skippers  who  came  into  port  from  foreign  parts  are  all 
the  same.  The  soldiers  are  all  the  same — cowards, 
braggarts,  and  defeated  in  love.  Menander  declared  by 
the  mouth  of  one  of  his  characters  that  not  even  the 
gods,  if  they  tried,  could  produce  a  polished  soldier. 
Vet  in  that  day,  when  the  profession  was  a  leading  one 
of  Greece,  there  must  have  been  plenty  of  soldiers  of 
fortune  similar  in  type  to  Xenophon,  and  far  more  culti- 
vated by  travel  and  experience  than  their  Attic  critics. 
But  the  use  of  an  un- Attic  form,  or  a  local  name  not 
recognized  at  Athens,  would  be  enough  in  Menander's 
day  to  set  them  down  as  boors. 


The  Hellenistic  World,   250-150  B.    C. 


Far  more  disagreeable  than  these  portraits  in  the  New 
Comedy  are  the  many  pictures  of  immoral  old  age,  of  ^\^or^li'y 
fathers  indulging  their  sons  in  vice,  and  conniving  at  it,  Comedy, 
nay  worse,  taking  part  in  it  in  the  presence  of  their 
sons.  The  apologies  of  the  Grex  at  the  end  of  the 
play  are  exhibitions  of  the  very  worst  Epicureanism  ' '  of 
the  stage,"  and  we  may  indeed  wonder  how  the  solid 
Romans  of  the  Second  Punic  War,  a  great  and  sound 
society,  could  have  tolerated  such  pictures  of  vice  as 
would  have  been  thought  outrageous  if  occurring  at 
Rome.  How  could  the  Fabii,  the  Aurelii,  the  Marcelli 
of  that  day  endure  that  their  children  should  be  made 
intimate  with  the  society  of  courtesans,  as  a  part  of 
elegance  and  culture?  It  would  be  irrelevant  to  discuss 
this  question.  Suffice  it  to  say  that  we  now  tolerate  in 
bookshops  and  even  on  our  tables  French  novels  which,    Modern 

1    •  -1  •  -1  parallel  of 

if  printed  in  English,  would  be  subject  to  prosecution  by  French  fiction, 
the  law,  and  which  no  respectable  bookseller  would 
venture  to  advertise.  Recently  the  English  people  even 
feted  in  London  one  of  the  worst  authors  in  infamous 
literature.  In  some  such  way  the  Romans  may  have 
tolerated  in  the  comcedia  palliata  things  which  would 
have  been  revolting  to  them  if  represented  as  Italian. 

What  we  have  said  concerning  the  evidence  of  comedy 
about  the  age  of  the  first  Diadochi  amounts  to  this  :  Me- 
nander  and  his  successors— they  lasted  barely  two  gener- 
ations— printed  in  a  few  stereotypes  a  small  and  very 
worthless  society  at  Athens.  There  was  no  doubt  a 
similar  set  of  people  at  Corinth,  at  Thebes,  possibly  even 
in  the  city  of  Lycurgus.  These  people,  idle,  for  the  most 
part  rich,  and  in  good  society,  spent  their  earlier  years 
in  debauchery,  and  their  later  in  sentimental  reflections  x,idVfrivoiit  • 
and  regrets.  They  had  no  serious  object  in  life,  and  re-  "octe^6"13'1 
garded  the  complications  of  a  love  affair  as  more  inter- 


272 


A  Survey  of  Greek  Civilization. 


Want  of 
education  and 
earnestness  in 
men  and 
women . 


Rise  of  new- 
cities  and 
spread  of 
city  life. 


esting  than  the  rise  and  fall  of  kingdoms  or  the  gain  and 
loss  of  a  nation's  liberty.  They  were  like  the  people  of 
our  day  who  spend  all  their  time  reading  novels  from 
the  libraries,  and  who  can  tolerate  these  eternal  varia- 
tions in  twaddle  not  only  without  disgust  but  with  inter- 
est. They  were  surrounded  with  slaves,  on  the  whole 
more  intelligent  and  interesting,  for  in  the  first  place 
slaves  were  bound  to  exercise  their  brains,- and  in  the 
second  they  had  a  great  object — liberty — to  give  them  a 
keen  pursuit  in  life.  The  relations  of  the  sexes  in  this 
set  or  portion  of  society  were  bad,  owing  to  the  want  of 
education  in  the  women  and  the  want  of  earnestness  in 
the  men.  As  a  natural  consequence  a  class  was  found, 
apart  from  household  slaves,  who  took  advantage  of 
these  defects,  and,  bringing  culture  to  fascinate  unprin- 
cipled men,  established  relations  which  brought  estrange- 
ments, if  not  ruin,  into  the  home  life  of  the  day. 

Such  then  being  the  society  which  we  find  depicted  at 
Athens,  and  by  implication  throughout  Greece — for  the 
scenes  of  the  New  Comedy  by  no  means  confine  them- 
selves to  Attica — what  notion  can  we  frame  of  the  prin- 
cipal cities,  in  which  the  general  features  already  de- 
scribed may  have  been  modified  by  circumstances,  and 
what  were  the  circumstances  ?  The  most  brilliant  and 
populous  cities  in  the  Hellenistic  world  were  at  that 
time  not  the  old  historic  towns  of  Greece  or  Asia  Minor, 
but  great  new  creations,  which  tried  hard  to  obtain  for 
themselves  the  stamp  of  antiquity,  and  invented  many 
legends  of  mythical  founders,  but  still  were  perfectly 
known  to  be  upstart  foundations.  Even  in  many  cases 
where  old  cities  like  Smyrna  and  Ephesus  revived,  it 
was  from  the  gathering  of  the  surrounding  villages,  into 
which  they  had  been  scattered  by  the  Persians,  of  a  pop- 
ulation no  longer  really  the   inheritors  of  the  old  fame 


The  Hellenistic  World,   230-150  B.    C.  273 


and  tradition  of  these  cities.  But  now  city  life  became 
the  fashion.  Everywhere  the  Hellenistic  kings  under- 
took to  found  them — first  of  all  their  respective  capitals, 
then  other  foundations  to  which  the  neighboring  people 
came  spontaneously,  or  were  forced  to  come,  to  form  a 
new  center.  In  many  cases  two  or  more  decaying  cities 
were  induced  or  compelled  to  amalgamate  by  Antigonus, 
or  Lysimachus,  or  Seleucus,  as  we  know  from  inscrip- 
tions, and  from  the  testimony  of  Strabo. 

Of  the  older  cities,  Cos  and  Rhodes  were  the  most  cosand 
prominent.  The  latter  was  not  very  ancient,  but  it  had 
been  founded  (in  408  B.  C.)  by  three  very  ancient 
neighboring  cities,  so  that  it  might  fairly  claim  the 
respectability  of  antiquity.  But  in  the  behavior  of  its 
citizens  and  the  prudence  of  its  government  it  proved 
that  these  claims  were  founded  upon  solid  reasons.  For 
both  here  and  at  Cos  we  seem  to  find  a  life  far  more 
orderly  and  respectable  than  at  Alexandria  or  at  An- 
tioch.  These  latter,  together  with  Pergamum,  were  the 
most  notable  of  the  new  foundations,  because  they  were 
all  capitals,  and  the  seats  of  courts  and  royalty.  Hence 
we  know  a  little — very  little — about  them,  whereas  such 
great  cities  as  Apamea,  Laodicea,  and  Seleucia  on  the 
Tigris  are  now  no  more  than  a  name. 

Let  us  take  up  Cos  and   Rhodes  first.     The  smaller 

.  f  .  ,  Cos  under  the 

island  is  known  to  us  as  the  place  of  retirement  and  rest   patronage  of 

,  ,        .   ,       ,  .  11  •,     the  Ptolemies. 

for  people  wearied  with  the  excitements  and  the  turmoil 
of  Alexandria.  It  was  a  favorite  place  for  the  Ptolemies 
to  send  their  children  to  be  brought  up  in  a  quiet  and 
wholesome  society,  of  pure  blood  and  of  good  manners. 
The  second  Ptolemy  was  actually  born  there,  and  con- 
sequently the  island  enjoyed  his  liberal  favors.  But  not 
only  were  princes  glad  to  find  this  harbor  of  refuge  for 
their  growing  infants  and  for  themselves,    but  literary 


274 


A  Survey  of  Greek   Civilization. 


Unreality  of 

Theocritus. 


men  also  retired  there,  and  formed  a  literary  society  of 
which  we  have  a  most  charming  sketch  in  the  seventh 
idyll  of  Theocritus.  There  the  weary  pedants  of  the 
Museum  appear  as  shepherds  or  vine-dressers,  enjoying 
a  country  feast  and  singing  rural  strains  of  love  and  of 
wine.  The  modern  public  was  long  deceived  by  this 
charming  idyll,  and  took  as  literal  fact  what  was  evi- 
dently a  mere  convention  of  the  moment.  As  well 
might  Marie  Antoinette  and  her  dairy  at  the  Trianon 
have  been  taken  for  genuine  dairy  work.  Both  were 
the  revolt  of  a  human  nature  with  sound  instincts  against 
the  excessive  ceremony,  etiquette,  artificiality,  pompos- 
ity, of  an  overwrought  and  unnatural  society.  Here 
then  we  find,  perhaps  for  the  first  time  in  Greek  life,  a 
growing  distaste  for  town  life,  and  consequent  love  of 
the  country  with  its  simpler  tastes  and  homelier  pursuits. 
To  us  this  is  natural  enough,  for  the  Anglo-Saxon  race 
has  always  been  a  sporting  race,  and  field  sports  postu- 
late country  life.  But  the  old  Greeks  were  essentially 
townsmen,  regarding  the  city  or  polity  as  the  only  civi- 
lized place  of  living,  and  consequently  the  dweller  in  the 
country  was  regarded  as  rustic,  pagan,  boorish,  and  gen- 
erally uncultivated.  "How  shall  he  become  wise  that 
holdeth  the  plough,  that  glorieth  in  the  shaft  of  the  goad; 
that  driveth  oxen,  and  is  occupied  in  their  labors,  and 
whose  discourse  is  of  the  stock  of  bulls  ?  They  shall  not 
be  sought  for  in  the  council  of  the  people,  and  in  the 
assembly  they  shall  not  mount  on  high,  neither  shall  they 
declare  instruction  and  judgment,  and  where  parables  are 
they  shall  not  be  found."  These  are  the  words  of  a  Jew 
Jewish  parallel,  deeply  influenced  with  Hellenism,  and  with  the  same 
contempt  as  the  old  Greeks  had  for  country  pursuits.* 

*  Ecclesiasticus  xxxix.  24,  S9.    I  have  omitted  the  verses  which  include  the 
skilled  mechanic  in  this  town  class  of  useful  hut  not   honorable   members  of 


Greek  distaste 
for  country  life 


The  Hellenistic    World,   250-150  B.    C.  275 

It  was  in  direct  contrast  to  all  this  that  Theocritus 
made  his  mark  and  his  permanent  place  in  the  world  of  Theocritus? 
letters,  by  deserting  Alexandria  and  its  streets  for  the 
glades  and  upland  pastures  of  Sicily,  and  in  spirit  at 
least  returning  to  the  free  life  of  the  shepherd  and  the 
neat  herd,  revelling  in  "the  divine  leisure"  of  the 
fields,  the  myriad  depth  of  the  woods,  "the  moan  of 
doves  in  immemorial  elms,  and  murmuring  of  innum- 
erable bees."  All  the  "properties"  of  the  medieval 
Arcadia,  with  its  coy  nymphs  and  piping  shepherds,  its 
murmuring  streams  and  complaining  nightingales,  were 
here  introduced  into  poetry,  and  have  ever  since  been 
the  stock  in  trade  of  bards  who  had  little  inspiration 
from  reality,  and  who  sought  to  compensate  with  arti- 
ficial graces  for  the  lack  of  inspiration.  Theocritus  was, 
however,  too  good  an  artist  to  impose  childish  inno- 
cence upon  his  swains  ;  the  human  passions,  perhaps 
rather  the  animal  passions,  are  strong  in  them,  and 
make  his  idylls  far  more  realistic  than  those  of  his  me- 
dieval followers.  I  fancy  the  poet  made  most  of  his 
studies  of  this  rural  life  at  Cos  or  in  the  island  of 
Rhodes  ;  there  is  no  evidence  that  he  lived  in  Sicily, 
any  more  than  that  his  greatest  imitator,  the  Neapolitan 
Sannazaro,  ever  went  to  Arcadia.*  For  the  whole  of  his  Artificiality  of 
work  is  artificial,  unreal,  though  so  artistic  that  it  has  rheocritus- 
imposed  upon  the  world  as  the  effusion  of  a  pastoral 
heart. 

It  is  well  to  insist  upon  this  feature  in  the  Hellenistic 
poetry  of  this  century,  when  we   come   to   consider  the 
recent  discovery  which  gives  us  sketches   of  the   town 
life  at  Cos,  professedly  during  the   poet's  own   life   and   «Mimiambics, 
observation.      The  "  Mimiambics  "  of  Herondas,  anew   ofHerondas. 

*  On  this  Sannazaro  and  his  Arcadia,  see  what  I   have  said   in  the  chapter 
on  Arcadia  in  my  "  Rambles  and  Studies  in  Greece." 


276 


A  Survey  of  Greek   Civilization. 


Base  and  vul- 
gar life  depicted 

bv  Herondas. 


Pictures  of  life 
at  Syracuse 
rather  than  Cos. 


Perhaps  imi- 
tated from  the 
"  mimes  "  of 

Sophron. 


treasure  of  the  British  Museum,  professes  to  give  us 
life-pictures,  especially  of  the  daily  walk  and  talk  of 
women  of  the  middle  class,  their  efforts  at  educating  un- 
ruly boys,  their  love  of  bargaining  in  shops  and  trying 
on  new  clothes,  their  petty  jealousies  and  intrigues,  not 
to  speak  of  their  actual  vices.  If  these  were  indeed  the 
general  features  of  female  life  at  Cos,  we  might  well 
wonder  that  any  one  should  choose  it  as  a  resort  for  lit- 
erary leisure,  still  less  for  the  safe  education  of  children. 
For  all  the  life  depicted  is  base  and  vulgar  ;  where  there- 
is  not  degrading  vice  there  is  meanness  of  motive,  pro- 
vinciality of  language  ;  there  is  hardly  a  redeeming 
feature  in  the  moral  picture  that  the  poet  presents  to  us. 
But  here  again  it  is  only  the  unwary  pedant  who  will  be 
deceived.  These  are  not  pictures  of  actual  life  at  Cos, 
but  also  borrowed  from  Sicily,  and  describing  not  the 
fair  country,  but  the  back  streets  of  Syracuse.  The  prose 
"mimes"  of  Sophron  of  Syracuse  had  long  been  cel- 
ebrated for  their  sketches  of  low  life  in  dramatic  form,  so 
celebrated  as  to  have  been  the  constant  study  of  Plato 
when  composing  his  dialogues.  A  whole  book  of  these 
sketches  was  devoted  to  the  ways  and  works  of  women. 
It  is,more  than  probable  that  this  book  was  Herondas' s 
model,  and  that  he  put  into  verse,  and  dressed  up  as  re- 
cent and  actual,  what  was  really  two  centuries  old,  and 
what  belonged  to  a  society  long  past  in  a  remote  part  of 
the  Hellenic  world.  Every  original  sketch  of  any  society 
has  general  features  which  will  fit  any  age.  It  is  the 
reproduction  of  these  which  give  to  Herondas  as  well  as 
to  Theocritus  that  illusive  appearance  of  actuality  which 
is  more  or  less  persuasive  according  to  the  genius  of  the 
artist. 

On  no  account,  therefore,  should  we  judge  the  society 
of    Cos   from    these  studies.      The  island  has  been  ex- 


The  Hellenistic  World,   250-150  B.    C.  277 


amined  recently  by  Mr.  Paton,  in  the  hope  of  finding 
inscriptions  which  would  be  far  more  trustworthy 
evidence.  But  his  hopes  have  been  in  the  main  dis- 
appointed. Except  some  corroborations  of  the  Ptole- 
maic patronage,  and  votive  inscriptions  set  up  by  their 
officers,  the  search  for  new  material  has  been  sadly 
unfruitful.      Let  us  turn  to  Rhodes. 

This  commonwealth  has  taken  the  place  of  Athens  in  Rhodes, 
the  eastern  Levant.  What  Athens  had  done  a  hundred 
and  fifty  years  before,  in  clearing  the  seas  of  pirates  and 
keeping  guardships  upon  the  water  thoroughfares,  in 
combining  the  coasts  and  islands  into  a  confederacy  for 
the  purpose  of  mutual  help  and  advantage,  was  now 
being  done  by  Rhodes.  But  there  is  this  important 
difference,  that  the  government  of  Rhodes  never  became 
a  democracy  in  the  Greek  sense,  where  every  free  citizen 
could  vote,  but  always  remained  in  the  hands  of  a  rich 
aristocracy  of  merchants,  who  satisfied  the  poor  with 
bread,  not  with  power,  and  by  attending  to  their 
material  welfare  saved  them  from  becoming  the  political 
mischief  which  the  mob  had  shown  itself  in  so  many 
other  free  cities.  Hence  we  never  hear  of  those  public 
follies  being  committed  at  Rhodes  which  disgrace  the  Government 
later  history  of  Athens,  and  which,  even  in  better  days,  aristocratic. 
were  the  main  cause  of  her  downfall.  The  prudent 
aristocracy  of  Rhodes  was  indeed  guilty  of  some  grave 
indiscretions.  The  commercial  ruin  of  their  city,  which 
had  been  designed  and  prepared  by  Roman  speculators, 
was  brought  on  after  the  battle  of  Pydna  by  their  falling 
into  a  very  simple  trap.  They  were  advised  by  a 
Roman  noble  who  was  in  the  "Tammany  ring"  of  the 
time  to  offer  their  mediation  between  Rome  and  Mace-    Cause  of 

Roman  indig- 

don.      For  centuries  they  had  been  acting  as  mediators   nation  against 
all  over  the   Hellenistic  world  ;  their  good  offices  had 


A  Survey  of  Greek   Civilization. 


Financial  ruin 
of  Rhodes. 


Caution  and 
diplomacy  of 
the-  Rhodians. 


been  gratefully  accepted.  But  when  the  Roman  Repub- 
lic had  become  a  proud  empire,  dictating  to  the  East, 
the  offer  of  mediation  from  a  merchant  city  was  met 
with  a  howl  of  indignation,  got  up  by  the  money  people, 
who  desired  a  conflict,  and  who  almost  produced  a 
declaration  of  war  against  Rhodes  at  Rome.  By  declar- 
ing Delos  a  free  port  the  financial  ruin  of  the  city  was 
however  sufficiently  accomplished.  And  this  would 
certainly  have  been  brought  about,  whether  Rhodes 
had  made  a  diplomatic  mistake  or  not.  She  was 
probably  led  into  it  by  deliberate  lies  on  the  part  of 
Romans,  who  seemed  responsible  persons,  and  who 
pretended  that  they  gave  the  advice  suggested  by  the 
friends  of  Rhodes  at  Rome. 

In  earlier  days  Rhodes  was  remarkable  for  avoiding 
all  hasty  legislation,  still  more  for  avoiding  all  declara- 
tion of  revenge  or  personal  dislike  toward  her  enemies. 
Here  the  caution  of  merchant  princes  shows  itself  in 
contrast  to  the  passions  of  a  mob.  When  besieged 
and  brought  to  the  greatest  straits  by  Demetrius 
Poliorcetes,  the  Rhodians  would  not  submit  to  the 
proposal  of  some  angry  citizen  to  pull  down  and 
destroy  the  statues  erected  in  former  years  by  the  grate- 
ful state  to  this  king  and  to  his  father.  Very  probablv 
they  intended  to  show  by  this  example  how  different 
they  were  from  an  excitable  mob  such  as  that  of  Athens, 
which  presently  overthrew  and  destroyed  all  the  statues 
of  the  other  Demetrius,  who  had  been  for  ten  years  the 
successful  ruler  of  Athens.  They  showed  it  again,  in  a 
war  undertaken  with  Byzantium  for  the  sake  of  keeping 
the  Bosphorus  open  to  Greek  trading  ships  without  pay- 
ing toll  to  that  city.  The  Byzantine  people  had  been 
blackmailed  by  their  inland  neighbors,  the  Thracians, 
and   the   city   had  begged  aid  from   the  Greek  world. 


The  Hellenistic  World,   250- r 50  B.C.  279 


When  refused,  they  began  to  stop  ships  and  levy  toll. 
To  this  strong  objections  were  made,  and  a  war  was 
begun  by  the  Rhodians.  But  no  sooner  had  they  got 
the  advantage  than  they  made  peace  without  demanding 
any  indemnity,  without  humiliating  their  adversaries  ; 
they  merely  demanded  that  the  old  rule  should  be 
resumed,  and  that  ships  should  pass  free  through  the 
Bosphorus. 

It  was  owing  to  this  reasonable  and  honorable  way  of 
conducting  their  trading  supremacy  that  all  the  world 
was  ready  to  contribute  great  sums  when  Rhodes  was 
nearly  destroyed  by  an  earthquake,  about  225  B.  C. 
The  list  of  gifts  from  kings  and  from  free  cities  is  given 
by  Polybius,  who  wonders  over  the  generosity  of  that 
day,  as  compared  with  his  own,  only  half  a  century 
later.  But  he  omits  to  tell  us  what  we  can  infer  from 
other  evidence,  that  these  gifts  were  no  mere  generosity, 
but  a  practical  way  of  averting  the  impending  financial 
crisis,  which  the  ruin  of  the  Rhodian  banks  would  entail 
upon  all  the  civilized  world. 

Rhodes  was  also  a  favorite  place  of  education,  not 
only  for  young  business  men,  but  for  young  orators  and 
men  of  letters.  The  schools  were  admirable  ;  there  was 
good  and  steady  society  ;  in  art  we  know  that  there 
was  a  famous  Rhodian  school,  marked  with  the  charac- 
teristics we  should  expect — moderation  and  strictness  of 
design,  at  least  in  comparison  with  the  luxurious  and 
sensational  schools  of  Asia  Minor.  The  same  thing  was 
said  of  the  rhetoric  taught  there.  They  professed  to 
derive  their  style  from  the  famous  yEschines,  the  adver- 
sary of  Demosthenes,  who  went  thither  in  exile.  In 
any  case  the  Rhodian  style  is  contrasted  with  the 
Asianic,  of  which  Hegesias  was  the  teacher,  by  its 
chastity  and  adherence  to   older   and   stricter  models. 


Magnanimity  of 
the  Rhodians. 


Importance  of 
Rhodes  in  the 
financial  world. 


Education 
at  Rhodes. 


"  Rhodian  " 
style  in 
rhetoric. 


2<So  A  Survey  of  Greek   Civilization. 


Cos,  therefore,  this  city,  and  perhaps  Tarsus,  shared 
with  Athens  the  reputation  of  being  what  we  might  call 
university  towns,  whither  it  was  safe  to  send  young  men 
to  prosecute  their  studies. 

Far  different  were  the  two  great  capitals  of  the  eastern 
Antiochand        Hellenistic  world,    Antioch  and   Alexandria.      The  cir- 

Alexandna. 

cumstances  of  the  foundation  of  each  were  not  very 
dissimilar,  but  in  every  other  respect,  except  that  they 
were  both  new  and  both  capitals,  there  are  strong  con- 
trasts. Alexandria  was  situated  on  flat  sandbanks  by 
the  sea,  and  fed  with  water  by  canals  from  the  Nile  ; 
Antioch  was  in  the  narrow  valley  of  the  Orontes, 
between  rugged  mountains  and  the  rushing  river,  at 
least  twelve  miles  from  the  sea.  Alexandria  had  no 
The  two  cities     other    great   city    near  it  ;    Antioch    was   one  of   four, 

compared.  .         .  . 

Seleucia  (its  port),  Apamea,  and  Laodicea,  which  were 
all  great  and  populous,  and  essentially  Greek  cities. 
Alexandria  had  only  one  other  insignificant  Greek  city, 
Naucratis,  within  reach  of  it,  and  in  all  Egypt  only  one 
other  far  away,  Ptolemais  in  the  upper  country  :  Antioch 
had  around  it  in  Syria  and  Coele-Syria  many  Graeco- 
Macedonian  settlements  with  privileged  inhabitants. 
Alexandria  was  founded  once  for  all  by  the  great 
conqueror  himself  ;  Antioch  was  built  by  Seleucus  from 
the  debris  of  the  earlier  Antigoneia,  which  his  rival 
had  founded  a  few  miles  further  up  the  river.  But 
both  were  great  cities,  with  the  characteristics  of  such 
cities  containing  a  mixed  population.  Both  played  an 
important  part  hereafter  in  the  history  and  development 
of  Christianity. 

All  these  reasons  would  make  a  comparison  of  them 
History  of  highlv  interesting,  but  bad  as  is  our  knowledge  of  Alex- 

andria, that  of  early  Antioch  is  still  worse.  We  only 
know  of  its  fair  suburb  called  Daphne,  where  the  ample 


The  Hellenistic  World,   230-150  B.    C.  281 


supply  of  mountain  springs  made  a  shady  and  cool  resort 
for  the  population  ;  we  know  that  Macedonians,  Jews, 
Greeks,  and  native  Syrians  formed  a  population  scat- 
tered through  four  distinct  quarters,  added  by  the 
Seleucid  kings  according  as  the  population  outgrew  the 
older  bounds.  Twice  it  was  occupied  by  Ptolemies  who 
invaded  the  country  ;  in  neither  case  after  a  battle  or 
siege,  but  with  the  consent  of  a  large  part  of  the  popula- 
tion. It  is  but  the  other  day  that  I  recovered  a  frag-  Recovery  of  a 
ment  of  a  narrative  which  tells  how  the  troops  and  h^f"^"1  of  Its 
sailors  of  the  third  Ptolemy  were  received  with  demon- 
strations of  joy  by  the  populace.*  Seleucia  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Orontes  was  held  by  the  Egyptians  as  a 
fortress  in  the  enemy's  country  for  more  than  twenty 
years.  We  know  from  Josephus  that  the  seventh 
Ptolemy  was  crowned  there  just  a  century  later,  and  an 
extant  coin,  representing  him  as  king  of  Syria,  proves 
the  accuracy  of  the  historian. 

Alexandria  never  submitted  to  this  indignity  (though 
Antiochus  Epiphanes  was  stopped  at  its  very  gates  by 
the  Romans)  till  the  days  of  its  last  king,  Auletes,  who 
was  ' '  restored  ' '  by  the  Romans  with  great  slaughter, 
and  then  in  the  campaign  of  Julius  Caesar,  who  was 
practically  a  prisoner  there  with  his  little  army  for  many 
months,  and  well-nigh  concluded  his  career  in  its 
harbor. 

But  unfortunately  no  great  creation  of  the  Macedonian 
Greeks   has   left  such   slight   traces   of  its   existence  as   slight  traces 
Antioch.      Known  and  inhabited  as  a  village  (Antakia)    ^n^nni? 
in  the  days  of  the  crusades,  it  has  hitherto  tempted  no 
explorer  to  search   for  the   remains  of  its  centuries  of 
splendor.      The  reason  is  clear  enough.      Founded  in  a 

*  Cf.  the  Petrie  Papyri,  Vol.  II.,  No.   XLV.,  for  this  curious  text,  which  has 
given  rise  to  many  essays  and  commentaries  in  Germany  since  its  discovery. 


282 


A    Survey  of  Greek  Civilization. 


Antioch  a  cen- 
ter of  Hellenic 
civilization. 


Alexandria  a 
.inter  of  Greek 
literature  and 
science. 


district  liable  to  frequent  earthquakes,  Antioch  suffered 
in  the  early  centuries  of  our  era  such  a  series  of  devasta- 
tions from  this  dreadful  disturbance  that  it  became 
uninhabitable.  Probably  great  masses  of  rock  have 
been  tumbled  from  above  down  upon  its  palaces,  colon- 
nades, and  streets.  The  remains  of  the  Seleucids  may 
in  many  cases  be  hidden  under  hopeless  accumulations 
of  natural  ruin,  which  is  not  like  the  ruins  of  mere 
human  habitations,  capable  of  being  probed  or  removed 
by  the  spade.*  But  these  things  would  not  have 
hindered  our  knowing  something  about  this  great  and 
splendid  city,  the  capital  of  a  province  far  more  Greek 
than  any  part  of  Egypt,  if  any  native  writer  or  any 
early  description  had  survived.  It  is  only  from  Strabo, 
and  then  from  Dio  and  from  John  Chrysostom  that 
something  of  the  life  of  the  Antiochenes  survives.  We 
can  therefore  say  no  more  of  it  in  this  place  than  to 
repeat  the  important  fact  that  the  Hellenic  civilization, 
of  which  the  golden  epoch  had  been  confined  to  Greece 
and  the  coast  of  Asia  Minor,  had  now  found  for  itself 
this  new  and  splendid  center  in  Syria,  from  whence  it 
could  influence  not  only  Ccele-Syria  and  Palestine, 
but  the  inner  country  as  far  as  the  Euphrates  and 
Tigris.  The  Seleucid  kings  very  justly  chose  for  their 
capital  a  site  not  beyond  the  reach  of  Greek  culture  ; 
thus  they  spread  its  influence  far  away  across  deserts, 
rivers,  and  mountains,  to  the  confines  of  India. 

Not  less  splendid  and  far  more  celebrated  in  Hellen- 
istic history  is  Alexandria,  which  took  up  the  torch  of 
learning  from  decaying  Greece,  and  did  all  that  could 
be  clone  to  perpetuate,  to  propagate,  to  promote  Greek 

♦The  history  of  Antioch,  with  all  the  troubles  from  riots,  angry  emperors, 
Saracens,  Turks,  and  earthquakes,  is  to  be  found  in  a  well-known  Latin  essay 
of  K.  O.  Muller,  published  in  the  fifth  volume  of  his  collected  essays  on 
archaeology.  There  is  an  insufficient  article  in  the  great  new  German  encyclo- 
paedia of  Pauly-Wissowa. 


The  Hellenistic  World,  230-150  B.    C.  283 

literature  and  science.  The  Ptolemies  who  ruled  at 
Alexandria  never  indeed  succeeded  in  Hellenizing 
Egypt,  as  the  Seleucids  had  Hellenized  Syria,  but  they 
did  not  choose  to  do  so.  With  practical  sense  they 
must  have  seen  that  the  tough  though  pliant  Egyptian 
character  would  never  take  this  new  training.  They  re- 
frained from  building  many  Greek  towns  in  Egypt.  But  JJgJJ^fS«& 
they  determined  to  concentrate  all  their  energies  upon  p"^^ the 
the  capital,  so  that  in  Alexandria  might  be  found  every 
kind  and  form  of  Greek  product  in  art,  literature,  and 
science.  It  is  held  universally  that  Alexandria  was  de- 
signed by  Alexander  for  a  commercial  city,  because,  I 
suppose,  it  turned  out  admirably  suited  for  that  purpose. 
I  have  endeavored  to  show  elsewhere  that  the  neighbor- 
hood of  the  older  Naucratis  had  something  to  say  to  his 
decision.*  Possibly,  however,  he  may  have  intended  it 
as  a  provisional  and  very  safe  capital,  where  he  could 
gather  stores  and  train  the  recruits  necessary  for  his 
conquest  of  the  remaining  Persian  Empire.  The  con- 
queror's views  probably  expanded  by  degrees. 

But  if  as  a  commercial  site  Alexandria  was  unrivalled, 

Lack  of  natural 

we  cannot  say  much  for  its  natural  beauty.  Sandhills  beauty  in  the 
without  wooding,  without  cliffs,  and  a  tideless  sea,  with  andria. 
no  far  mountains  or  islands  in  sight — what  could  be 
more  dreary  to  those  who  had  been  accustomed  to  the 
enchanting  views  from  the  Greek  and  Asiatic  coast 
towns?  We  know  that  the  Greeks  of  classical  days 
said  little  about  the  picturesque.  Nevertheless  its  un- 
conscious effect  upon  their  poetry  and  other  forms  of  art 
is  clearly  discernible,  and  perhaps  not  a  little  of  the  un- 
picturesqueness  of  Alexandrian  culture  is  due  to  the 
absence  of  this  vague  yet  powerful  influence.  The 
grandeur  of  solemn  mountains,  the  mystery  of  deep  for- 

Cf.  my  "  Empire  of  the  Ptolemies,"  Chap.  I. 


284 


A  Survey  of  Greek   Civilization. 


ests,  the  sweet  homeliness  of  babbling  streams,  the  scent 
of  deep  meadows  and  fragrant  shrubs,  all  this  was 
familiar  even  to  the  city  people  of  Hellenic  days.  For 
their  towns  were  small,  and  all  of  them  surrounded  by 
scenes  of  natural  beauty.  But  the  din  and  the  dust  of 
the  new  capital,  reaching  over  an  extent  as  great  as 
modern  Paris,  were  only  relieved  within  by  a  few  town- 
parks  or  gymnasia,  and  without  by  fashionable  bathing 
suburbs,  where  the  luxuries  of  city  life  replaced  the 
sweets  of  nature  ;  and  if  there  were  retirement  and 
leisure  within  the  university,  it  was  eminently  the  retire- 
ment among  books — the  natural  home  for  pedants  and 
grammarians. 

It  would  require  a  separate  volume   to  give  any  ac- 

Literature  of  .  . 

the  Alexandrian   count  of  the  vast  body  of  literature  which  has  reached 

period.  .  .  . 

us  from  this  epoch.  Literature  in  the  pure  sense  of 
model  writing  it  is  not  ;  but  literature  in  the  sense  of 
scientific  teaching,  archaeological  teaching,  historical  and 
philological  inquiry,  in  the  highest  sense.  It  is  never  to 
be  forgotten  that  the  learned  men  of  the  great  library 
and  of  the  Museum  (as  the  great  College  of  Alexandria 
was  called)  preserved  and  purified  the  texts  of  the  great 
classics,  sorted  the  wheat  from  the  chaff,  and  appended 
those  critical  marks  and  explanatory  notes  which  have 
given  us  almost  all  the  knowledge  we  possess  of  the  lit- 
erary history  of  earlier  Greece.  Thus,  for  example, 
Aristophanes  would  be  well-nigh  unintelligible  were  it 
not  for  the  scholia  which  come  from  the  Alexandrian 
critics,  and  which  we  find  copied  in  the  margins  of  our 
best  medieval  manuscripts.  All  our  scientific  knowledge 
of  Homer  dates  from  the  discovery,  late  in  the  last  cen- 
tury, of  an  eleventh-century  copy  at  Venice,  furnished 
with  the  critical  marks  and  notes  of  Aristarchus.  These 
men  also  left  us  commentaries  upon   their  own   produc- 


Importance  of 

Alexandrian 

critics. 


Homeric 

criticism. 


Gold  Cup  from  Mycenae.     (See  page  30.) 
From  Schuchhardt's  "  Schliemann,"   page  239. 


285 


286 


A  Survey  of  Greek   Civilization. 


The  inost  note- 
worthy book  of 
this  age  the 
"  Idylls"  of 
Theocritus. 


The  "Ele- 
ments" of 
Euclid. 


Alexandria  the 
real  center  of 
Hellenism. 


tions.  We  have  the  "  Argonautics "  of  Apollonius 
Rhodius  and  the  "Cassandra"  of  Lycophron  so  ex- 
plained, and  if  either  of  them  were  worth  ranking  among 
the  classics,  we  should  find  these  notes  of  the  highest 
value.  But  the  learned  world  has  come  to  a  tacit  agree- 
ment that  of  all  the  Alexandrian  books  surviving  none 
is  to  have  the  honor  of  forming  modern  taste  except  the 
"Idylls"  of  Theocritus.  His  pastorals  have  been  so 
long  and  so  constantly  imitated,  ever  since  Virgil's  day, 
that  he  is  as  much  a  household  name  among  literary 
men  as  any  of  his  predecessors.  The  great  scientific 
works,  the  mathematics,  astronomy,  geography  of  Hip- 
parchus,  Euclid,  Eratosthenes,  Apollonius,  have  been 
absorbed  into  the  more  recent  systems,  not  without  the 
permanent  recognition  and  gratitude  of  the  learned. 
Euclid  indeed  still  holds  his  place  in  all  English  mathe- 
matical teaching  as  the  unapproachable  introduction  to 
strict  scientific  thinking.  Whether  he  should  now  be 
replaced  by  some  modern  text-book  or  not,  there  is  no 
doubt  that  in  logic  he  will  never  be  surpassed,  and  it  is 
of  the  logic  of  thinking  that  his  "  Elements  "  will  ever 
remain  a  perfect  specimen.  If  the  Alexandrian  Greeks 
had  left  us  nothing  else,  would  not  the  modern  scientific 
world  owe  them  a  permanent  debt  of  gratitude  ?  nor  is 
it  a  doubtful  sign  of  greatness  to  have  been  the  plague 
and  the  detestation  of  myriads  of  schoolboys  for  count- 
less generations. 

The  greatness  of  this  city,  the  splendor  of  its  court, 
the  wealth  of  its  sovereigns,  made  it  in  this  century  the 
real  center  of  Hellenism  to  outside  nations.  It  was  not* 
from  Athens  with  all  its  ancient  prestige,  but  from  Alex- 
andria that  the  Romans  learned  their  civilization.  We 
can  still  trace  the  spread  of  Greek  arts  and  comforts 
from  the  first  port  which  was  opened  by  the  Romans  to 


The  Hellenistic  World,   250-150  B.    C.  287 

Alexandrian  ships,  the  port  of  Puteoli  (Pozzuoli)  close 
within  the  entrance  of  the  Bay  of  Naples.  The  old 
Greek  traditions  of  that  country,  which  had  been 
crushed  by  the  conquests  of  Samnites  and  Romans,  re- 
vived again  under  the  influence  of  the  many  Greeks  who 
worked   this  Alexandrian  trade.      Presently   Baiae,  Ne-   Trade  of 

..  Alexandria. 

apohs,  Herculaneum,  Pompeii,  all  became  fashionable 
settlements  for  Romans,  owing  to  the  Greek  flavor  of 
the  population,  and  the  facility  of  obtaining  from  Alex- 
andria the  arts  and  crafts  which  gave  comfort  and  re- 
finement to  private  life.  Recent  researches  have  shown 
that  all  the  elegant  designs  in  Roman  houses,  all  those 
conventional  ornaments  which  were  copied  from  the 
ruins  of  Roman  palaces  by  the  masters  of  the  Renais- 
sance, all  the  graceful  house  decoration  which  we  have 
found  beneath  the  ashes  at  Pompeii,  are  copied  directly 
from  Alexandria.  We  have  even  specimens  of  purely 
Egyptian  ornament,  crocodiles,  hippopotami,  and  papv-   Influei»ce  of 

.  ......  r  f    fJ       Alexandrian  art 

rus  plants,  utilized  by  these  Romans  through  the  inter-   at  Rome, 
mediation  of  the  Alexandrians. 

But  though  the  kingdom  of  Egypt  thus  furnished  a 
home  and  a  new  center  for  Greek  art,  Greek  learning, 
Greek  letters,  it  was  no  home  for  Greek  politics,  or  the 
special  side  of  literature  developed  by  politics.  There 
was  no  eloquence  at  Alexandria,  doubtless  because  the 
Ptolemies  knew  that  to  let  the  Greeks  lash  themselves  found  no  home 
with  their  periods  and  heat  themselves  with  their  meta- 
phors would  be  dangerous  to  the  court  and  the  public 
order.  The  city  population  was  inflammable  enough  ; 
riots  were  both  frequent  and  bloody  ;  had  there  been  a 
school  of  orators  to  promote  them,  the  consequences 
might  indeed  have  been  disastrous.  Hence  there  were 
not  even  Hellenic  rights  granted  to  the  population. 
They  had  no  Boule  or  demos,  no  council  or  assembly  of 


at  Alexandria. 


288 


A  Survey  of  Greek   Civilization. 


PerRamuni. 


Its  history. 


The  kingdom 
of  the  Attalids 


citizens,  which  was  the  distinctive  feature  of  every  free 
Greek  city.  Magistrates  appointed  by  the  crown,  with 
administrative  powers  of  a  semi-military  kind,  kept  the 
city  in  order.  There  was  a  garrison  of  household  troops, 
so-called  Macedonians,  with  special  privileges,  the  proto- 
type of  the  praetorian  guards  at  Rome.  Indeed,  many  of 
the  city  arrangements  at  Alexandria  were  copied  by  the 
emperor  Augustus,  when  he  was  organizing  his  power. 

But  he  may  also  have  taken  some  ideas  from  another 
very  interesting  model,  which  is  most  characteristic  of 
the  age  now  under  consideration — I  mean  the  city  and 
royalty  of  Pergamum.  This  interesting  kingdom,  which 
lasted  from  the  beginning  of  the  third  century  to  the  time 
when  it  was  bequeathed  to,  and  absorbed  by,  the  Roman 
people  during  the  days  of  the  Gracchi,  has  many  char- 
acteristic features,  which  were  not  known  by  us  till  the 
results  of  the  recent  excavations  by  the  Germans  were 
made  known.  The  fort  had  been  a  treasure  fort,  held  for 
Lysimachus  by  the  founder  of  the  dynasty,  then  retained 
after  his  death  and  that  of  Seleucus,  and  held  against 
Antiochus,  the  new  king  of  Syria  (281  B.C.),  whose 
difficulties  were  so  great  that  he  was  compelled  to  permit 
the  revolt.  We  know  now  that  Philetaerus  even  lent 
money  from  his  treasure  to  the  neighboring  Greek  cities 
to  purchase  their  freedom  from  Antiochus. 

Thus  arose  the  kingdom  of  Attalids,  ruled  by  rela- 
tions of  the  founder,  seldom  inheriting  in  the  direct  line, 
but  nevertheless  showing  the  strongest  family  affections, 
and  avoiding  those  domestic  conflicts  which  were  the 
ruin  of  both  the  Ptolemaic  and  Seleucid  dynasties.  The 
political  role  of  the  Attalids  was  to  protect  the  liberties 
of  the  surrounding  cities  not  only  from  Syria,  but  from 
the  new  kingdoms  of  Bithynia  and  Cappadocia,  which 
threatened  to  absorb  them.    But,  above  all,  these  kings, 


The  Hellenistic  World,  250-150  B.    C.         289 

Eumenes  I.,  Attalus  I.,  Eumenes  II.,  Attalus  II.,  earned 

great  glory  and  the  gratitude  of  all  the  Greeks  by  re-   The  Attaiids 

&  &        J  &  J  resist  the  in- 

sisting the  inroads  of  the  pestilent   Galatians,  who   had   rpads  ofthe 

made   for  themselves  a   robber  state  in  the  interior  of 

Asia  Minor,  and  were  now  the  scourge  and  terror  of  all 

their  neighbors. 

To  check  and  defeat  these  marauders  was  the  greatest 

service   possible   to   Hellenism,   and  this  it   was   which 

made  Pergamum  the  center  of  civilization  and  of  art  for 

all    Asia   Minor.      The  kings  celebrated  their  victories   Pergamum  the 

°  center  of  civil- 

over  the   Gauls    by  splendid    works  of   art,    and   their   iAza.tio".for 

J        r  Asia  Minor. 

school  of  sculpture  has  survived  not  only  in  the  splendid 
remains  of  the  high  altar,  recently  brought  to  the 
Museum  of  Berlin,  but  in  those  famous  statues  of  dying 
Gauls,  which  were  mistaken  by  our  fathers  for  statues 
of  gladiators.  There  was  one  of  a  Galatian  who  had 
just  killed  his  wife,  her  body  has  fallen  beside  him,  and 
who  is  thrusting  his  sword  into  his  own  heart,  in  the 
Villa  Ludovisi  (now  destroyed)  ;  there  is  another  of 
the  so-called  gladiator,  made  famous  by  Byron's  lines, 
which  shows  us  plainly  how  the  triumph  of  the  Attaiids 
and  the  despair  of  the  barbarians  were  represented  in 
Pergamene  art.  These  examples  and  the  large  remains  Pergamene  art. 
of  the  groups  of  reliefs,  which  adorned  the  sides  of  the 
great  altar,  have  afforded  recent  historians  of  Greek  art 
one  of  their  most  attractive  chapters.  It  is  remarkable, 
however,  that  though  these  kings  gathered  a  great 
library,  in  imitation  of  that  at  Alexandria,  and  though 
they  had  a  school  of  Homeric  critics,  and  though  they 
favored  the  great  Stoic  doctrine  and  patronized  its  mas-  male  no  impor- 
ters, the  contribution  of  Pergamum  to  Greek  literature   bution  to  Greek 

t1   •  .1,  literature. 

amounts  to  nothing.* 


*  Cf.  the  discussion  of  the  critical  work  of  Crates  and  his  school   in  Suse- 
mil's  book  on  "  Alexandrian  Literature,"  II.,  page  i  sqq. 


290 


A  Survey  of  Greek  Civilization. 


Political  con- 
stitution of 
Pergamum. 


Its  kings. 


Wealth  of  the 
Attalids. 


What  the  inscriptions  have  taught  us  concerning  the 
political  constitution  of  the  state  is  far  more  instructive. 
Pergamum  appears  to  have  had  the  regular  constitution 
of  a  Greek  city,  and  all  the  extant  decrees  are  passed  by 
the  council  and  demos.  The  kings  appear  in  fact  out- 
side the  constitution,  except  that  they  nominate  officers 
called  strategi,  and  these  are  mentioned  as  proposing 
the  decrees  passed  by  the  people.  There  are  also 
frequent  decrees  voting  thanks,  divine  honors,  etc.,  to 
the  kings  as  benefactors  of  the  state,  as  if  their  actual 
control  of  it  was  studiously  ignored.  Nevertheless 
these  kings  had  all  the  state  and  appointments  of  other 
Hellenistic  kings  ;  they  had  heroic  honors  and  altars 
erected  to  them  during  their  lives  ;  they  were  deified 
after  their  death  ;  in  all  the  discussions  with  the  Romans 
and  other  foreign  powers  there  is  no  mention  of  the 
demos  of  Pergamum,  but  only  of  the  king. 

These  curious  facts  point  to  a  compromise  between 
the  new  Hellenistic  and  the  old  Hellenic  ideas  of  city 
government,  and  evidently  a  most  successful  compro- 
mise. We  do  not  hear  of  any  struggles  of  the  royalty 
with  the  commons.  When  the  last  king  had  bequeathed 
his  rights  and  privileges  to  the  Romans,  we  find  the 
people  ready  to  adopt  the  cause  of  an  illegitimate  pre- 
tender, who  carried  on  for  some  years  a  dangerous  war 
with  the  power  of  Rome.  The  Attalids  were  evidently 
very  wealthy.  Either  by  monopolizing  the  state  domains 
of  the  old  Persian,  and  then  Seleucid  kings,  which  were 
scattered  all  over  Asia  Minor,  or  by  a  judicious  system 
of  taxation,  they  amassed  sufficient  treasure,  in  addition 
to  the  original  nine  thousand  talents  held  by  Philetaerus, 
to  adorn  their  own  capital  with  splendid  temples,  colon- 
nades, altars,  palaces.  They  even  adorned  Greek  cities, 
especially    Athens,    with    works   of   art   and   of    public 


The  Hellenistic  World,  250-150  B.    C.         291 

comfort.     The  first  Attains  had  offered  splendid  groups 

of  statues  on  the  Acropolis.      The  second  Eumenes  had 

built  a  stoa  or  colonnade  of  which  the  remains  are  still 

visible.     Thus  they  preserved  their  popularity  in  Greece, 

while  they  took  care  to  help  the  Romans  in  their  eastern 

wars,  and  received   after  the  battle  of  Magnesia  (190  B.    ^ewardufe"* 

C. )  most  of  Asia  Minor  as  a  reward.  Attahds. 

It  is  quite  possible  that  the  peculiar  constitution  con- 
structed by  Augustus  for  his  own  empire  at  Rome  owed 
some  of  its  characteristic  features  to  Pergamum,  as  well 
as  to  Alexandria.      If  the  police  and  administration  of 
the  city  show  traces  of  the  latter,  surely  the  curious 
compromise  of  empire  and  republic,  of  a  sovereign  out- 
side and   yet  controlling  the  state,   of   the  mixture  of 
nominees  of  the  crown  and  those  elected  by  the  people,    Resemblance 
of  that  curious  fear  of  asserting  royalty  while  securing  ^^^^ 
all   its  advantages,    may   have   been   borrowed   by  the   £°t™*"0fpP.ire 
shrewd  and  politic  Augustus  from  the  remarkable  model,    gamum. 
which  was  so  successful  in  the  second  century  B.  C. 


CHAPTER  X. 


GREEK    CULTURE    UNDER    THE    ROMANS. 


We  have  now  brought  Hellenic  civilization  down  to 
the  time  when  the  "  cloud  in  the  West"  began  to  over- 
shadow it.  We  have  seen  how  after  the  disruption  of 
Alexander's  empire,  his  successors  and  the  old  free 
cities,  amid  many  rivalries,  many  wars,  many  new  foun- 
dations, many  destructions  or  amalgamations  of  old 
ones,  had  nevertheless  kept  alive  Hellenic  culture.  In- 
deed, the  existence  of  many  centers  for  art  and  literature 
must  have  been  far  more  favorable,  upon  the  whole,  for 
Numerous  cen-  the  culture  of  the  race  and  its  dissemination  among 
lfterature  kept  neighboring  races  than  if  the  whole  empire  had  been 
alive.  °U  ture  kept  under  one  ruler,  and  all  its  greatest  products  cen- 
tralized in  one  huge  capital.  We  knew  in  the  case  of 
Germany,  during  the  earlier  part  of  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury, how  many  small  courts,  each  promoting  the  arts, 
the  learning,  the  refinements  of  life,  did  far  more  for  the 
country  than  a  centralized  German  empire  will  ever 
effect.  The  rivalries  of  Alexandria,  Antioch,  Perga- 
mum,  Rhodes,  Athens,  and  many  other  cities  gave 
scope  for  many  artists,  for  many  schools,  and  so  main- 
tained the  varieties  so  characteristic  to  Greek  culture, 
even  after  many  cities  of  old  Greece  were  decayed,  and 
not  likely  to  hold  aloft  the  torch  they  had  received  from 
their  ancestors.  We  showed  reason  to  believe  that  the 
art  of  the  period  stood  very  high  ;  what  we  still  have 
from  the  tombs  of  Sidon  and  from  the  sculptures  of  Per- 
gamum  are  of  the  first  class.      If  they  did  not  equal  the 


Greek   Culture    Under  the  Romans.  293 


work  of  Phidias  himself,  they  certainly  equalled  and 
even  exceeded  the  work  of  many  of  his  lesser  contem- 
poraries, nor  is  it  aught  but  narrowness  of  mind  to  pin 
our  faith  to  one  epoch  only,  and  refuse  to  admit  perfec-   So-called  "  de- 

tr  J  '  i  cadence     of 

tion  in  any  other.      The  works  alluded   to  are  the  only   sculpture  of 

J  }      Hellenistic 

specimens.      The     splendid     groups     known     as     the  Period  not 

"  r  b  1  borne  out  by 

Laocoon   and    the  Toro    Farnese   (in   Naples)   show  a  extant  sped- 

v  r        J  mens. 

boldness  of  conception  and  daring  of  execution  which 
have  many  features  distinctly  in  advance  of  the  quieter 
and  less  emotional  earlier  work.  These  groups  handle 
marble  as  easily  as  the  painter  uses  colors  ;  and  if  we 
would  see  how  such  work  affects  a  great  poet,  we  have 
the  famous  scene  in  Virgil's  yEneid  describing  the 
priest's  death,  which  was  doubtless  inspired  by  this  very 
group,  then  well  known  and  already  brought  to  Rome. 
But  if  there  be  those  who  maintain  that  this  extremely 
passionate  treatment  in  marble  is  traveling  beyond  the 
sculptor's  sphere — a  statement  to  which  I  do  not  sub- 
scribe— what  will  they  say  when  they  study  the  Venus  Mno^fateness 
of  Melos  (Milo)  which  was  long  believed  to  be  of  the  ofitsdate 
school  of  Phidias,  and  has  only  of  recent  years  been  dis- 
covered to  be  a  work  not  older  than  150  B.  C.  ?  Here 
is  repose,  here  are  grace  and  dignity  ;  here  are  all  the 
perfections  of  the  Golden  Age  found  in  a  work  of  the 
supposed  decadence.  The  fact  is  that  the  majority  of 
the  statues  most  celebrated  throughout  the  world,  and 
copied  for  all  our  museums,  are  works  of  the  Hellenistic 
period,  which  were  not  wrought  till  after  the  death  of 
Alexander. 

I  cannot  but  think  that   a   false   impression  regarding   Reasons  for 
the  plastic  arts  has  been  derived  from  the  contempt  in   *he  ^ory  fj 

r  1  decadence  in 

which  the  polite  literature   of   the   age  has  been  held.    Hellenistic  art. 
The  great  philosophies,  which  were  its  glory,  are  only 
preserved  to  us  in  fragments,  and  we  know  positively 


294 


A  Survey  of  Greek   Civilization. 


Decadence  of 
stylo  in  the 
Alexandrian 
age  did  not 
spread  to  the 
other  arts. 


The  critical 
school  of  Alex- 
andria dies  out 
in  the  reign  of 
Ptolemy  VII. 


Polyhius. 


that  they  scorned  the  art  of  composition.  The  excessive 
strictnesses  and  refinement  of  such  work  as  that  of  Isoc- 
rates,  or  of  Demosthenes,  must  have  seemed  wasted 
labor  to  men  who  had  many  weighty  things  to  say,  and 
thought  it  of  little  importance  how  they  said  them. 
But  in  the  other  branches  of  literature  (excluding  of 
course  pure  science)  a  decadence  of  style  cannot  pos- 
sibly be  denied.  The  people  of  this  age  essayed  all 
kinds  of  composition  ;  they  believed  themselves  as  great 
as  their  predecessors,  if  not  greater  ;  yet  in  two  small 
departments  only,  that  of  bucolic  poetry  and  in  the  epi- 
gram, have  they  left  us  work  worthy  of  their  great  tra- 
ditions. Those  who  have  felt  this  inferiority  of  style  in 
the  third  and  second  centuries  B.  C.  are  very  apt  to  im- 
agine that  it  was  paralleled  in  other  arts,  and  that  the 
men  who  wrote  badly  also  carved  and  built  and  painted 
badly.  Such  was  not  the  case.  If  we  but  saw  the  dec- 
orations of  a  Hellenistic  palace,  or  the  architecture  of  a 
Hellenistic  city,  I  feel  sure  that  we  should  reverse  our 
judgments. 

We  have  already  considered  the  poetry  of  Alexandria, 
and  know  how  both  this  and  the  great  critical  school  ap- 
pear to  die  out  in  the  time  of  the  seventh  Ptolemy. 
When  the  great  Scipio  /Emilianus  went  to  visit  Egypt 
in  company  with  Pametius,  he  may  still  have  found 
there  some  eminent  scientific  men,  but  Aristarchus,  the 
king  of  critics  and  the  last  of  his  race,  was  in  exile,  and 
perhaps  even  already  dead. 

But  in  Greece  itself  we  have  one  great  figure,  the  man 
who  lived  to  see  the  growth  of  the  Roman  Republic,  the 
conquest  of  Macedonia,  the  conquest  of  Greece,  and  its 
final  subjection  to  Rome.  He  stood  between  the  living 
and  the  dead,  but  the  plague  was  not  stayed. 

This  unique  figure  is  the  historian  Polybius,  to  whom 


Greek   Culture    Under  the  Romans.  295 

we  owe,  even  in  his  shattered  and  lacerated  remains,  al- 
most all  our  knowledge  of  this  momentous  time.  There 
was  no  man  better  suited  by  his  circumstances  to  be  the 
mirror  of  the  a^e  ;  he  had  taken  part  in  wars,  in  embas-    His  close  asso- 

0  *  ciation  with  the 

sies,  in  debates  ;  he  had  seen  the  courts  of  Alexandria,    life  oflhLe,K°- 

man  nobility. 

of  Pergamum,  probably  of  Macedonia,  and  his  long  in- 
ternment in  Italy  was  changed  by  good  fortune  into  a 
residence  in  the  greatest  noble  house  in  Rome,  where 
he  learned  to  know  and  to  appreciate  the  real  strength 
and  purity  of  the  best  Roman  life. 

From  him  then  we  can  learn  the  aspects  of  Hellenism, 
as  they  appeared  to  him.  He  was  born  of  the  better 
classes,  and  always  took  the  aristocratic  side  ;  hence, 
though  he  advocated  all  through  his  life  the  liberty  of 
the  Greeks,  he  shows  no  real  horror  for  tyrants  as  such, 
and  a  very  great  respect  for  kings.  He  was  quite  accus-  His  aristocratic 
tomed  to  royal  courts  as  the  home  of  good  manners,  and 
often  notices  with  serious  displeasure  breaches  of  eti- 
quette. Courtiers  were  then  what  they  are  now,  false, 
smiling,  obsequious  people,  and  yet  because  they  exer- 
cise their  vices  for  the  pleasure  of  royalty,  they  are  ex- 
cused, and  even  applauded  by  society.  But  Polybius 
could  criticise  even  the  manners  of  kings.  He  tells  us 
that  the  two  great  diplomatic  qualities  in  a  sovereign  are 
urbanity  and  secrecy.  He  must  be  courteous  and  keep 
his  temper  under  all  circumstances  :  he  must  never  be- 
tray his  confidants  under  any.  He  turns  aside  specially  His  ideal  of 
to  commend  a  very  wicked  man,  King  Philip  V.  of 
Macedon,  for  having  carefully  burnt  all  compromising 
papers  in  his  possession  after  his  defeat  at  Cynosceph- 
alae.  His  son  Perseus,  a  boorish  and  miserly  person, 
who  possessed  no  kingly  instincts,  neglected  to  do  so 
after  the  battle  of  Pydna,  and  brought  thereby  great 
miseries  upon  the  Greeks.     For  in  that  seething  com- 


296 


A  Survey  of  Greek   Civilization. 


Polvbius  plays 
an  important 
part  in  Greek 
politics. 


His  contempt 
for  the  -Sitolian 
League. 


Contrast  be- 
tween Roman 
In  mesty  and 
( I  reek  treach- 
ery. 


plex  of  states  full  of  patriots,  full  of  traitors,  full  of 
diplomacy,  full  of  promises  unfulfilled,  there  was  corre- 
spondence enough  to  ruin  half  the  world. 

Within  Peloponnesus,  where  Polybius  had  his  home, 
he  was  a  strong  party  politician.  He  was  ever  advoca- 
ting the  claims  and  the  dignities  of  the  Achaean  League, 
of  which  he  was  a  very  leading  member  ;  he  is  ever 
praising  the  political  and  military  qualities  of  these 
Achaeans  and  Arcadians,  who  produced  at  that  time  so 
many  remarkable  men,  and  made  so  interesting  an  essay 
in  international  politics.  On  the  other  hand,  he  will  not 
say  a  good  word  for  the  neighboring  league  of  ^tolia, 
which  was  no  less  important,  and  which,  owing  to  its 
naval  side,  found  members  far  away  through  the  Greek 
world.  He  calls  this  league  a  mere  set  of  pirates  and 
thieves,  and  accounts  for  their  importance,  and  the  re- 
spect with  which  they  were  treated  by  kings  and  states 
in  international  questions,  by  the  statement  that  system- 
atic injustice  and  violence  cease  to  excite  the  indigna- 
tion which  single  acts  of  the  kind  do,  so  that  the  villain 
on  principle  is  always  more  regarded  and  less  censured 
than  the  respectable  man  who  commits  a  crime. 

Such  a  judgment  only  shows  how  bitter  a  partisan 
Polybius  could  be  ;  yet  the  facts  of  his  history  make  it 
plain  that  the  standard  of  honesty,  both  political  and 
social,  was  very  low  at  this  epoch  throughout  the  Hel- 
lenistic world.  This  was  the  striking  fact  which  came 
out  when  the  Greeks  were  compared  with  the  Romans 
in  their  first  diplomatic  relations.  If  a  Roman  gives 
you  his  word  you  may  trust  him  implicitly  ;  he  will  re- 
store you  a  fortune  if  you  intrust  it  to  him  ;  whereas 
sheaves  of  oaths  and  crowds  of  witnesses  will  not  secure 
a  single  talent  for  you  in  the  hands  of  a  Greek.  These 
contrasts  of   national   honesty  are  very  curious,  all  the 


Greek  Culture   Under  the  Romans.  297 


more  curious  because  the  old  Spartan  type  in  Greece 
had  been  above  the  smallest  suspicion  of  lying,  while 
the  Roman  aristocrats  degenerated  so  rapidly  by  con- 
tact with  the  Hellenistic  world  that  honesty  became  as 
rare  among  them  as  a  white  crow.  The  whole  policy 
even  of  the  Roman  Senate,  in  Polybius's  own  day,  was  g^^j^ 
full  of  tortuous  deceit  ;  if  the  collected  body  did  not  ^ecg'rteaecktswith 
state  open  falsehoods  this  business  was  committed  to  in- 
dividual commissioners  or  envoys  who  promised  what 
they  liked,  threatened  whom  they  chose,  and  repudiated 
what  they  found  inconvenient. 

Polybius,  who  is  picturesque  enough,  and  who  has 
left  us  some  pages  of  brilliant  descriptions,  though  his 
style  cannot  be  called  elegant,  is  nowhere  more  striking 
than  when  he  describes  (xxxix.,  8-9)  the  despair  that 
fell  upon  the  Peloponnesus,  and  indeed  all  Greece, 
when  the  ultra-democratic  party  broke  out  openly 
against  the  cold  and  selfish  tyranny  of  the  Romans,  and   Conquest  of 

*>  J  J  .        Greece  by 

brought  upon  them   the   Roman  legions.      Conquest  in   the  Romans 
those  days  was  ruthless  and  brutal,  but  in  this  case  all   Polybius. 
the  more  so  because  a  strong,  dominant,  coarse  people 
overthrew    the    silly    and   sentimental    resistance    of    a 
people  they  disliked  and  despised,  and  disliked  all  the 
more  because  they  were  unable  to  despise  them  without  - 
reservations. 

For  when  all  was  said  that  could  be  said  against 
the  Greeks,  the  fact  remained  that  in  the  arts  and  refine- 
ments of  life  all  other  nations  were  bound  to  borrow 
from  them  and  imitate  them,  nor  could  the  Greek,  even 
were  he  a  captive  or  a  slave,  conceal  his  contempt 
for  his  boorish  captor,  or  efface  the  contrast  which  any 

.1  1  ii-i  J     .x.        Failure  of  the 

man    could    see   between    the    loutish    master   and   the   Romans  to  ap- 
lettered  slave.       Polybius   was  present  at  the  sack    of   art  treasures 
Corinth,  and  told  how  he  had  seen  soldiers  playing  dice 


298  A  Survey  of  Greek  Civilization. 


upon  the  precious  pictures  of  renowned  artists  ;  others 
added  that  Mummius  had  sent  his  spoil — unique  pic- 
tures, statues,  ornaments — to  Italy  under  contract  with 
the  skippers  that  they  should  replace  anything  which 
was  lost  !  This  honest  and  bluff  Roman,  whom  Polybius 
considers  not  only  just  but  even  humane,  had  no  appre- 
ciation of  Greek  fineries.  And  yet  he  was  a  far  safer 
master  than  the  snob  who  abandoned  the  simplicity 
of  his  fathers,  wore  Greek  clothes,  and  lisped  bad  Greek, 
Gracomania  wrote  books  in  Greek  (corrected  by  his  slaves),  and 
Romans.  e  vaunted  his  descent  from  vEneas  or  his  Trojan  band. 

These  creatures  had  their  Greek  parallels — men  like 
Charops  the  ^Etolian,  who  used  his  fortune  to  live 
at  Rome,  speak  Latin,  and  teach  the  Romans  to  despise 
his  countrymen.  The  essays  in  approximation  between 
Greece  and  Rome  were  therefore  at  this  moment  most 
unfortunate,  and  made  by  the  most  contemptible  classes. 
In  art,  of  course,  there  was  no  question  about  Greek 
superiority,  but  the  Romans  failed  for  a  long  time  to  see 
that  the  importation  of  ready-made  foreign  refinement  is 
of  little  use,  when  the  temper  and  taste  of  the  recipients 
are  not  sufficiently  prepared.  Polybius  tells  of  one 
of  the  early  attempts  to  introduce  flute  playing,  dancing, 
and  choral  singing  at  the  triumph  of  a  victorious  gen- 
eral, L.  Apicius,  who  had  brought  with  him  artists  from 
menetkinethee;rts  Greece  (XXX.,  14).  When  these  famous  performers  be- 
by^Roma,^  gan  the  audience  were  at  first  puzzled,  then  bored  ; 
at  last  a  lictor  indicated  to  them  that  the  public  expected 
something  of  a  physical  contest.  The  ready  Greeks 
presently  took  up  the  idea,  and  the  affair  ended  in  a  free 
tight  on  the  stage,  to  the  complete  satisfaction  of  the 
crowd.  ' '  What  I  have  to  say  about  the  performance  of 
the  Greek  tragedies  at  the  same  time,"  says  Polybius, 
"  will  seem  a  humorous  invention  "  ;  but  here  the  frag- 


at  this  time. 


Greek   Culture    Under  the  Romans. 


299 


ment  breaks  off,  and  we  are  left  without  further  details. 
Such,  then,  were  the  general  conditions  of  Greece 
when  the  absorbing  process  by  Rome  began.  It  pro- 
ceeded by  stages.  Corinth  was  destroyed  and  Achaea 
made  a  district  under  a  Roman  governor  in  146  B.  C. 
Then  the  kingdom  of  Pergamum  was  bequeathed  by 
Attalus  III.  to  the  Romans  and  occupied  by  them  as  a 
province  in  130.  There  came  a  pause  during  the  inter- 
nal dissensions  of  the  Gracchi,  then  of  the  great  Social 
War,  and  the  conquest  of  Spain.  But  no  sooner  were 
the  military  forces  of  the  republic  free  than  Pompey 
conquered  and  settled  the  Seleucid  dominion  ;  last  of  all 
came  the  formal  conquest  of  Egypt,  spared  long  after 
the  fruit  was  ripe  by  the  old  and  close  friendship  which 
its  dynasty  had  kept  up  with  Rome,  then  when  all  such 
considerations  had  no  weight  with  Roman  greed,  when 
the  mutual  jealousies  of  the  leaders  feared  to  let  any  one 
ambitious  man  handle  the  vast  wealth  of  this  unique 
kingdom.  This  is  the  general  outline  ;  but  for  our  pur- 
poses it  must  be  carefully  remembered  that  the  senti- 
mentality and  the  policy  of  the  Romans  not  only 
permitted  but  encouraged  what  they  called  free  and  in- 
dependent cities  all  through  the  Hellenistic  world.  It 
was  in  these  cities,  impoverished,  decayed,  often  treated 
with  brutal  tyranny,  that  the  Greek  culture  of  former 
days  maintained  itself,  and  recovered  into  no  insignifi- 
cant after-bloom.  Even  for  them  there  was  a  frightful 
pause  in  the  early  days  of  Roman  domination.  When 
young  patrician  ruffians  were  let  loose  as  praetors  or 
governors  into  these  provinces,  there  was  no  sort  of 
oppression  perpetrated  by  any  old  tyrant  which  ex- 
ceeded their  crimes.  We  have  the  case  of  Verres  whom 
Cicero  attacked,  that  of  Flaccus  whom  he  defended, 
which  was  perhaps  nearly  as  bad  ;  we  have  the  horrid 


Gradual  ab- 
sorption of 
Greece  into  the 
Roman  Empire. 


The  conquest 
of  Egypt. 


Violence  and 
extortion  prac- 
ticed by  Roman 
governors  in 
their  provinces. 


300  A  Survey  of  Greek   Civilization. 


picture  drawn  by  Seneca  of  the  Roman  praetor  walking 
about  the  public  place  at  Ephesus  among  heads  and  lie- 
tors  and  bodies,  and  when  he  heard  the  sound  of  the 
rods,  and  saw  the  executions  going  on,  perhaps  for  some 
small  offense,  exclaimed  with  pride  :  "This  is  indeed 
royal  state  ! ' ' 

In  addition  to  these  villains    was    another    class    not 
Roman  specu-      less  destructive  of  all  leisure  and  tranquillity,  still  more 

lators  in  the  * 

provinces.  Gf  any  further  developments  of  art  or  culture.      I  mean 

the  speculators  who  sought  to  squeeze  from  the  prov- 
inces gold  for  their  luxuries  or  their  ambitions  at  Rome. 
The  two  classes  of  miscreants  were  not  indeed  distinct  ; 
cruelty,  ostentation,  and  avarice  were  often  blended  in 
these  descendants  of  the  honest  and  noble  men  who  had 
conquered  Italy,  and  then  had  commenced,  against  their 
will,  to  conquer  the  world.  For  the  better  of  them 
knew  well  enough,  while  they  were  drifting  from  one 
foreign  complication  to  another,  that  wild  ambitions 
were  abroad,  that  the  advocates  of  a  strong  outward 
policy  were  not  honestly  trying  to  secure  the  frontiers  of 
Italy,  but  hoping  for  great  careers  for  themselves. 

The  force  of  events  was,  however,  too  strong.  Polyb- 
ius  himself  does  not  see  how  Roman  domination  could 
have  been  avoided  ;  and  how  rapidly  honesty  and  all 
other  good  principles  died  out  of  a  people  that  had  no 
culture  to  depend  on  appears  very  clearly  when  we  take 
account  of  the  case  of  Brutus,  "the  noblest  Roman  of 
them  all,"  which  Cicero  lets  out  in  his  correspondence 
from  Cilicia.  He  wanted,  through  an  agent  called  Scap- 
tius,  to  extract  forty-eight  per  cent  for  a  loan  to  the  city 
of  Salamis  in  Cyprus,  and  because  they  did  not  pay, 
shut  up  the  senate  of  the  city  in  their  council  house,  till 
one  of  them  actually  died  of  hunger  !  This  was  the  ten- 
der creature  who  could  not  bear  his  companions,  the 


Roman 
domination 

inevitable.   . 


Greek  Culture   Under  the  Romans.  301 


Roman  aristocracy,  to  lose  their  license  of  harrying  the 
world,  and  so  murdered  his  benefactor,  and  the  world's 
benefactor,  because  he  crushed  at  once  this  shocking  re- 
publican tyranny.  This  was  the  same  Brutus  who,  in 
his  campaign  against  Octavian  and  Antony,  offered  his 
mercenary  army,  as  a  reward,  the  sack  of  perfectly  inno- 
cent Greek  cities.  There  has  seldom  been  a  worse 
criminal  than    Brutus,   and    all    the    worse   because    he  Cold-blooded 

cruelty  of 

assumes  before  the  world  the  air  of  an  apostle  and  Brutus. 
a  martyr,  still  worse  even  because  the  creature  per- 
suaded himself  of  his  own  moral  magnificence,  and 
performed  his  detestable  crimes  with  the  air  of  piety  and 
virtue.  These  were  the  men  who  aped  and  crushed 
Greek  culture  and  Greek  letters  ;  these  were  the  men 
who,  when  plundering  by  individual  magistrates  was 
stopped,  fought  out  their  great  civil  war  for  supremacy 
on  Greek  ground,  and  with  Greek  treasure  and  Greek 
blood. 

If  the  rapid  Roman  degradation  be  a  striking  sign  of 
the  moral  dangers  of  the  want  of  education,  the  mainte- 
nance of  a  high  standard  in  the  Greek  world,  in  spite  of 
the  terrible  misfortunes  of  the  first  century  B.  C.,  is  an 
equally  striking  proof  of  the  inestimable  value  of  that 
culture.  There  were  indeed  many  polished  villains, 
many  complaisant  slaves,  many  advisers  of  evil,  among 
the  Greeks  who  sought  service  in  Roman  houses. 
There  were  philosophers  resident  there,  in  somewhat 
the  position  of  private  chaplains,  who  knew  how  to  phUosophens 
justify  the  vices  of  their  patrons  by  Epicurean  philoso-  Romanhouses. 
phy,  and  who  were  not  very  bold  to  contradict  a  Roman 
senator  when  he  put  the  coarsest  construction  upon  the 
maxim  of  the  pursuit  of  pleasure.  Cicero  has  drawn  a 
very  interesting  picture  of  this  sort  of  philosophical  edu- 
cation in  his  ribald  speech  "against  Piso."      But  even 


302 


A  Survey  of  Greek   Civilization. 


Philodemus 
of  Gadara. 


Roman  debt  to 
Greek  culture. 


Romans  lacked 
power  to  origi- 
nate. 


this  creature  had  his  domestic  philosopher,  the  well- 
known  Philodemus,  whose  many  tracts  have  been  re- 
covered from  the  lava  of  Herculaneum,  and  apparently 
from  his  own  (and  Piso's)  country  library.* 

Thus  it  happened  that  when  the  empire  was  estab- 
lished, and  the  real  pax  Romana,  with  the  blessed  relief 
of  the  suffering  provincials,  became  an  accomplished 
fact,  the  Hellenistic  culture  became  more  than  ever  the 
culture  of  the  world.  The  Romans  had  attained  to  the 
dignity  of  a  conquering  race  ;  they  could  now  boast 
of  two  or  three  generations  of  passable  education  ;  they 
who  at  the  beginning  of  the  epoch  had  been  dying 
to  pose  as  Greeks,  now  began  to  fancy  themselves  the 
more  refined,  and  to  speak  even  of  the  Greeks  among 
the  "foreign  nations."  But  all  their  posing  and  all  their 
assertion  of  their  own  high  qualities  against  their  east- 
ern neighbors  could  not  blind  any  man  to  the  fact  that 
they  owed  all  the  more  refined  side  of  their  life  to 
Greece.  What  Romans  would  ever  have  produced  dur- 
ing the  troubles  and  terrors  of  the  first  century  B.  C. 
such  books  as  those  of  Diodorus  or  of  Strabo  ?  What 
Roman  could  attempt  even  to  copy  with  success  any 
Greek  masterpiece  in  marble  or  in  color  ?  What  Ro- 
man could  think  out  any  new  philosophic  system,  and 
not  rather  follow  afar  off  the  instructions  of  Zeno,  Epi- 
curus, Arcesilaus,  Carneades,  so  far  as  he  could  under- 
stand them  ?  The  cooking  in  great  houses  was  done  by 
Greeks,  the  waiting  also  ;  the  appointments  of  the  table 
were  copied  from  the  splendors  of  Antioch,  Alexandria, 
or  Pergamum  ;  old  ware  and  silver  were  named  and 
prized  according  to  the  Greek  workshop  which  had  pro- 
duced it  ;  even  polite  conversation  was  better  carried  on 


♦Concerning  this  man  and  Piso  cf.  my  "  Greek  World  under  Roman  Sway," 
pages  127  sq. 


Greek   Culture    Under  the  Romans.  303 

in  Greek.       If  the  vices  of  Rome  also  became  Greek,  it 

does  not  imply  that   they  increased  in  quantity  or  in-  ofrGdr°nknairCe 

tensity  ;  the  vices  of  boors  are  as  great,  and  far  more  and  refinement 

J  a  >  in  Rome. 

disgusting,  than  those  of  gentlemen  ;  refinement  is  gen- 
erally on  the  side  of  virtue,  and  the  love  of  the  beautiful 
in  no  way  opposed  to  the  love  of  the  good. 

Thus  we  have  brought  the  subject  down  to  the  days 
of  the  nascent  empire,  and  may  pause  to  consider  how 
far  Augustus  and  his  successors  were  influenced  by  Hel- 
lenistic civilization,  and  how  far  they  sought  to  make  it 
their  model  in  the  administration  of  their  vast  estate. 
The  constitution  established,  or  adopted  from  the  views 
of  Julius  Caesar,  who  was  a  man  of  ideas  as  well  as  of  ac- 
tion, had  evidently  many  important  features  borrowed  Constitution  of 

rr    ......  ~  the  Roman  Em- 

from  Hellenistic  models.      Caesar  had  already  ordered  pire  borrowed 

1  •  c      1  -111-111  fronl  Hellenistic     ' 

the  mensuration  01  the  empire  by  the  skilled  surveyors  models. 
who  did  that  work  on  a  small  scale  in  the  ever-changing 
farms  of  the  Nile  Valley.      He  had  likewise  reformed  the 
calendar  according  to  the  changes  commanded  (but  not 
carried  out)  in  the  decree  of  Canopus.* 

Augustus  went  in  the  same  direction.  Pretending, 
like  the  kings  of  Pergamum,  to  be  the  accidental  presi- 
dent or  head  of  a  republic,  he  allowed  all  the  old  forms 
to  be  kept  up,  while  he  interfered,  not  only  by  having 
his  nominees  elected  by  the  people,  but  by  making  his 
administrators  all  powerful  in  some  provinces,  by  claim- 
ing a  large  royal  estate  from  the  domain  of  the  republic, 
by  keeping  control  of  the  army,  and  establishing  a 
household  corps  in  the  city,  by  making  the  privy 
council  of  his  friends  or  advisers  more  important  than 
any  of  the  decisions  of  the  senate.      Still  more  signifi- 

1  11-1  r      1  1   •  r      a  The  worship  1  if 

cant  was  the  establishment  of  the  worship  of  Augustus  the  emperors. 


*  Cf.  my  "  Empire  of  the  Ptolemies,"  page  235,  for  the  text  of  the  decree  on 
this  important  point. 


Greek   Culture    Under  tlie  Romans.  305 


and  of  the  fortune  of  Rome  as  a  common  cult  in  all  the 
cities  of  the  empire.  This  was  exactly  what  the  Ptole- 
mies had  done,  when  they  procured  the  proclamation  by 
the  priests  that  their  statues  were  to  be  set  up  in  each 
of  the  temples  and  beside  the  various  gods  of  Egypt, 
being  declared  contemplar  gods. 

All  these  things  were  therefore  borrowed  from  Alex- 
andria or  from  Pergamum.  Augustus  indeed  made  a 
show  of  speaking  Latin,  and  speaking  it  purely,  but  at 
every  turn  he  must  have  spoken  Greek  to  servants, 
confidential  secretaries,  artists,  professional  men  ;  he 
was  fond  of  sojourning  at  Samos  or  Rhodes,  and  so 
breathing  Hellenic  air  and  quaffing  Hellenic  refinement. 
The  poets  of  this  ae;e  showed  themselves  as  completely   Augustan  poets 

.  r  &  .  .      and  their  Greek 

addicted  to  Greek  models  as  their  predecessors,  but  it  models. 
so  happened  that  Virgil  was  far  greater  than  the  rest, 
and  that  Horace  went  back  to  far  better  and  older 
models.  It  is  for  this  reason  that  these  Augustan  poets 
have  made  such  a  reputation  for  their  age  as  a  literary 
age.  Yet  they  were  not  less  beholden  to  the  Greeks 
for  meter,  subject,  and  treatment  than  our  architects 
are  nowadays  to  Gothic  or  classical  models.  It  was  as 
impossible  for  a  Roman  to  work  out  an  original  subject 
and  style  in  poetry  as  it  is  for  an  Englishman  now  to 
construct  a  building  in  a  style  which  shall  not  be  bor- 
rowed from  classical,  Renaissance,  or  Gothic  models. 
And  in  both  cases  the  highest  originality  is  asserted  for 
those  that  borrow  most  deftly,  and  steal  without  confin- 
ing their  theft  to  one  model. 

Greek  culture  was  therefore  in  greater  demand  than 
ever,   though   the   Romans    had    for  one    hundred  and  still  supreme, 
fifty  years  done  all  they  could  to  damage  or  destroy  it, 
and  though  the  mischief  done  was  irreparable.      It  was 
all  very  well  for  humane  and  enlightened  emperors  to 


306 


A  Survey  of  Greek   Civilization. 


Vitality  of  the 
Greek  race 
apparently  de- 
cayed forever. 


The  survival 
of  the  Greek 
games  and 
the  Eleusinian 
Mvsteries. 


spend  great  sums  on  the  restoration  of  decayed  or 
ruined  cities  in  Greece  and  Asia  Minor,  and  to  set  up 
colonnades  and  temples,  to  remit  taxes  in  years  of  earth- 
quake or  famine.  The  health  and  vitality  of  the  race 
were  gone.  They  could  still  teach  their  old  masters  ; 
they  could  still  copy  their  old  statues  ;  they  could  still 
expound  the  revived  systems  of  Greek  philosophy  ;  but 
the  age  of  new  creation,  of  development,  of  great  ideas, 
was  gone. 

To  all  appearance  these  things  were  gone  forever  ;  yet 
after  a  century's  rest  we  find  this  wonderful  mine  yield- 
ing new  veins  of  ore  ;  we  find  it  the  vehicle  for  the 
Christian  religion  ;  we  find  in  Greek  what  could  never 
have  been  written  in  any  other  language,  the  gospels  of 
Jesus  Christ,  the  epistles  of  St.  Paul,  the  orations  of  Dio 
Chrysostom,  the  "Lives"  of  Plutarch.  Of  these  we 
shall  speak  presently.  For  the  present  we  must  delay 
to  note  that  still  in  the  decayed  towns  of  Greece  there 
were  shadowy  assemblies,  powerless  resolutions  of 
councils  and  citizens,  elections  to  high  offices — all  the 
outward  show  and  paraphernalia  of  the  antique  free  citv. 
What  was  much  more  interesting  to  Romans  and 
foreigners  of  taste,  there  were  numerous  festivals  for 
athletics  and  for  literary  contests,  some,  like  the  Olym- 
pian and  Pythian  games,  reaching  back  into  hoar 
antiquity,  others  founded  in  Hellenistic  days,  where  the 
old  customs  and  old  amenities  of  life  were  shown  to 
visitors,  especially  visitors  of  the  dominant  race.  There 
were  still  the  Eleusinian  Mysteries,  sacred  rites  in  Samo- 
thrace  and  elsewhere,  where  the  pious  and  the  archaeo- 
logical could  find  ample  edification  and  instruction,  and 
there  still  remain  countless  inscriptions  set  up  in  honor 
of  rich  citizens,  or  benevolent  strangers,  for  having 
spent  money  and  care  upon  the  endowment  and  sustain- 


Greek   Culture   Under  the  Romans.  307 


ment  of  these  ceremonies.  It  became  the  fashion  of 
noble  Romans  to  give  endowments  of  various  kinds  to 
the  Greeks  ;  an  Appius  Claudius  built  a  new  entrance 
to  the  great  temple  of  Demefer  at  Eleusis,  of  which  the  ^enfof  Greek" 
foundations  are  now  visible  ;  Cicero  contemplated  some-  temples, 
thing  similar  ;  and  the  remaining  Hellenistic  kings  in 
the  East  emulated  in  the  first  years  of  the  empire  the 
liberalities  whereby  the  Hellenistic  monarchs  and  tyrants 
had  kept  the  furious  hatreds  of  the  democracies  in 
abeyance,  and  even  produced  pompous  decrees  of  good- 
will toward  themselves  from  the  men  who  would  cry, 
the  same  day,  "  Death  to  the  tyrant. "  But  the  Greeks 
never  showed  much  dislike  on  principle  to  a  tyrant  who 
did  not  press  upon  themselves,  especially  if  he  was 
liberal  with  gifts.  Who  had  been  the  great  benefactors 
to  Athens,  Olympia,  Delphi,  among  the  Hellenistic 
kings  ?  First  of  all,  the  Ptolemies,  bad  and  good,  who 
were  almost  always  on  good  terms  with  the  Greek 
democracies,  then  individually  Eumenes  II.,  who  had 
bought  the  island  of  yEgina  from  the  victorious  Romans 
for  ready  money,  and  whose  offers  of  money  to  condone 
this  act  were  so  indiscreet  as  to  produce  the  rarest  of  Greeceamong 
phenomena,  a  refusal  on  the  part  of  the  Achaean  kings.e 
League,*  then  Antiochus  Epiphanes,  who  filled  Greece 
with  his  donations,  then  Herod  the  Great.  Now  both 
the  latter  were  active  propagators  of  Hellenism  in  their 
own  dominions,  and  both  had  striven  to  force  its 
customs  upon  the  recalcitrant  Jews  ;  inside  their  own 
dominions,  therefore,  they  were  godless  and  ruthless 
tyrants  ;  in  Greece  or  Asia  Minor  they  were  mild  and 
generous  benefactors,  blessed  in  honorary  decrees  by 
many  grateful  communities. 

This  long  habit  of  receiving  donations  and  begging 

*  Cf.  Polybius  XXII.,  10-12. 


3o8 


A  Survey  of  Greek   Civilization. 


Greece  a  favor- 
ite haunt  of  Ro- 
man tourists. 


The  afterglow 
of  Greek  liter- 


for  them,  this  long  obsequiousness  to  the  great  people 
of  other  lands,  this  pliant  submission  to  the  task  of  mak- 
ing tyrants  popular  and  masters  seem  cultivated,  would 
surely  have  degraded  any  other  people  than  the  Greeks. 
But  their  ancient  heritage  could  not  all  be  taken  from 
them.  There  were  still  in  many  temples  of  the  land 
statues  of  gods  and  goddesses,  portraits  of  heroic  men, 
which  fascinated  the  world,  and  made  Greece  the 
favorite  ground  for  all  intelligent  pleasure-seekers.  Like 
the  Italy  of  our  day,  with  its  wonderful  medieval 
riches,  so  Greece  in  Roman  days  was  the  tourist's 
Elysium.  We  still  have  from  the  hand  of  Pausanias,  an 
enthusiastic  archaeologist  in  the  second  century,  a 
description  of  the  old  sites,  shrines,  and  historic  monu- 
ments all  over  the  country,  and  then  at  least  we  find 
that  public  taste  had  gone  beyond  the  Golden  Age 
back  to  the  archaic,  and  admired  things  not  because 
they  were  beautiful,  but  because  they  were  old.  Even 
the  rudest  things  that  remained  then  found  men  to  study 
them,  and  profess  that  they  loved  them,  as  is  often  the 
case  in  our  own  century. 

But  I  must  hurry  on  to  the  great  books  which  mark 
the  close  of  my  subject.  After  the  spread  of  Christianity 
the  power  of  Hellenism  indeed  remains,  but  the  interests 
of  the  world  are  changing.  Up  to  the  flourishing  and 
thoroughly  Hellenistic  reign  of  Hadrian  this  is  not  so, 
and  we  have  a  splendid  afterglow,  or  shall  I  call  it  a 
Martinmas  summer,  in  literature,  which  shows  very 
clearly  that  much  of  the  old  gentleness  and  urbanity  and 
real  refinement  lived  throughout  the  cities,  and  even  in 
the  glens  and  mountains  of  this  fascinating  country. 

But  let  us  say  a  word  in  passing  upon  the  Greek  of 
Palestine  in  the  middle  of  the  first  century,  that  Greek 
which  comes  before  us  in  the  New  Testament.     Nothing 


Greek  Culture   Under  the  Romans.  309 


is  more  indisputable  than  that  the  Greek  language,  and 
.  not  the   Hebrew,  was  from  the  first  the  vehicle  of  the   T,h?  Greek 

of  the  New 

new  world-religion.  To  any  one  who  has  considered  Testament, 
the  conditions  of  the  Roman  Empire  at  that  time,  the 
thing  seems  not  only  obvious  but  necessary.  A  religion 
preached  in  Latin  or  in  Hebrew  could  never  have  ex- 
tended over  the  world.  The  "  common  dialect,"  which 
was  known  to  every  society  from  the  Tigris  to  the 
Tagus,  was  the  essential  vehicle  for  such  a  movement. 
I  advert  next  to  the  fact  that  the  language  as  used  by 
the  men  of  Judaea  appears  to  us  from  an  artistic  point  of 
view  vastly  superior  to  the  labored  and  rhetorical  work 
which  we  find  among  learned  writers  in  this  century. 
To  those  who  are  familiar  with  first  century  "common 
dialect"  there  appears  at  once  in  the  Synoptic  Gospels  a  fectionlnthe 
simplicity,  a  picturesqueness  perfectly  new  and  strange,  ment.Testa~ 
and  fresh  up  to  the  present  day.  The  actual  language 
is  not  refined  Greek,  the  vocabulary  is  poor,  the  gram- 
matical forms  often  debased  ;  but  far  above  these  details 
is  the  spirit,  the  literary  conception  of  a  life  to  be  written 
without  ornament,  without  reflection,  without  the 
writer's  personality,  without  moral  applications.  I  can- 
not express  to  the  reader  how  strange  this  all  appears  to 
me  in  that  age  and  in  that  society.  Yet  to  all  this  Greek 
lends  itself  perfectly,  and  speaks  with  this  new  voice  as 
with  all  the  many  voices  it  had  already  assumed. 

When  we  come  to  such  books  as  St.  John's  gospel 
and  the  epistles  of  St.  Paul,  we  again  find  ourselves   in 
a  familiar  atmosphere.      Here  we  have  the  metaphysical 
side,    the  language  of  the  schools,    the    terms  of  phi- 
losophy, used  by  men  who  had  studied  in  the  manner   Hign  average 
that  Greeks  only  studied,  and  who  spoke  to  an  audience   SPthe  Greeks^ 
more  intelligent  than  any  average  public  from  that  day   epistles  of the 
to  this.      It  is  still  to  me  a  matter  of  daily  wonder  how   St' 


310 


A  Survey  of  Greek  Civilization. 


His  meta- 
plivKh  s  under- 
stood by  the 
average  Hellen- 
istic audience. 


This  culture 
not  an  affair  of 
race. 


the  epistles  of  St.  Paul,  addressed  not  to  the  ilite  of  so- 
ciety, not  to  the  learned,  or  the  members  of  the  schools, 
but  to  lower  classes,  to  slaves,  at  best  to  the  average  so- 
ciety of  the  city  he  addressed,  could  not  only  have  been 
intelligible,  but  practical  and  effective  teaching.  After 
centuries  of  commentary  and  explanation,  after  a  fa- 
miliarity of  many  years,  we  learn  to  follow  their  subtle 
and  tangled  arguments.  But  what  should  we  say  if  any 
of  them  appeared  now  suddenly  as  open  letters  ad- 
dressed to  any  ordinary  city  in  America  ?  The  apostle 
himself  was  a  trained  man,  versed  in  the  controversies 
of  the  schools  at  Tarsus,  and  from  such  in  that  day  we 
might  fairly  expect  considerable  mental  training,  but 
what  shall  we  say  of  his  hearers  ?  Perhaps  in  the  whole 
of  the  preceding  volume  I  have  produced  no  argument 
so  convincing  to  an  American  audience  of  the  abnormally 
high  position  I  claim  for  the  average  Greek  civilization. 
The  arguments  of  the  early  Christian  teachers  are  ad- 
dressed, I  contend,  to  hearers  far  more  educated  in  the 
proper  sense  than  we  are.  Their  faculties  of  apprehen- 
sion of  an  argument,  sustained  attention  to  its  details, 
readiness  to  grasp  its  intricacies,  were  far  higher  than 
ours.  Nor  can  we  say  that  it  was  affair  of  race.  The 
populations  addressed  by  Paul  were  mixed  in  blood, 
confused  in  nationality,  often  oriental,  often  occidental, 
agreeing  only  in  the  one  primary  condition  :  they  had 
all  learned  Greek,  and  through  it  they  had  been  com- 
pelled to  adopt  Hellenistic  culture. 

Further  than  this  I  dare  not  go  into  the  questions 
which  encompass  the  relation  of  this  great  engine  of 
civilization  to  the  new  force  which  Jesus  Christ  had  just 
brought  into  the  world.  This  is  no  book  of  theology,  still 
less  of  controversy,  and  the  mere  suggestions  I  have  made 
will  be  enough  for  the  frame  which  I  now  desire  to  fill. 


Greek   Culture    Under  the  Romans. 


3ii 


I  will  not  delay  the  reader  with  the  lighter  effusions  of 
the  day,  that  host  of  epigrams  which  remained  fashion- 
able for  some  centuries  and  which  are  collected  in  the 
big  book  called  the  "  Anthology."  For  these  exercises 
of  wit  are  seldom  serious  ;  they  are  only  meant  to  show 
the  artist's  cunning  ;  what  real  life  they  regard  is  of  a 
description  not  suitable  for  general  discussion.  But 
there  were  serious  men  in  the  closing  first  century 
whose  work  is  even  now  well  worth  studying  :  Dionysius 
of  Halicarnassus,  the  archaeologist  and  critic  ;  the  author 
of  the  tract  "On  the  Sublime"  ;  Dio  of  Prusa  (called 
Chrysostom) ;  and,  above  all,  Plutarch.  These  men 
honored  learning,  advocated  good  taste,  and  promoted 
good  morals  and  educated  life.  Yet  their  works  are  so 
little  read  nowadays  that  I  feel  constrained  to  cite 
passages  from  them  in  support  of  what  I  say.  Let  us 
consider  what  Dio  recommended  by  way  of  the  best 
reading  in  a  time  when  the  world  had  been  flooded  with 
all  manner  of  tawdry  and  meretricious  literature. 

Let  Homer  of  course  be  your  daily  spiritual  bread,  the 
beginning,  middle,  and  end  of  every  culture,  for  young  and 
old,  who  gives  to  each  as  much  as  he  can  receive.  Lyric 
and  elegiac  poetry  is  all  very  well,  if  you  have  great  leisure, 
otherwise  you  may  pass  it  by.  Thus  in  tragedy  you  may 
prefer  Euripides,  and  in  comedy  Menander  to  the  older  and 
perhaps  greater  masters,  because  they  contain  more  practical 
wisdom.  History  is  essential,  but  Herodotus  for  charm  and 
Thucydides  for  excellence  are  far  superior  to  Ephorus,  Theo- 
pompus,  and  the  rest. 

In  oratory  Demosthenes  is  of  course  supreme  in  force 
and  Lysias  in  the  disguise  of  force,  but  Dio  recommends 
Hypereides  and  ./Eschines,  as  it  is  easier  to  understand 
their  art.  Nor  will  he  object  to  the  modern  rhetoricians 
of  the  previous  generation  being  studied,  especially  as 
men  approach  them  with  a  free  critical  spirit,  and  not  in 


Epigrams  in  the 
"Anthology." 


Dionysius  of 
Halicarnassus. 


Dio  of  Prusa. 


The  reading 
recommended 
by  Dio. 


In  oratory  Dio 
recommends 
Hypereides 
and  ^Eschines. 


312 


A  Survey  of  Greek  Civilization. 


The  treatise 
"On  the  Sub- 
lime "  formerly 
attributed  to 
Longinus. 


Outlines  of  the 
treatise. 


that  slavish  admiration  which  they  feel  toward  the 
ancients.  Among  Socratic  thinkers  none  is  serviceable 
to  the  man  of  action  except  Xenophon,  who  indeed  is 
in  history  also  the  most  perfect  and  excellent  of  masters. 

Such  is  the  training  in  letters  recommended  by  the 
most  eminent  orator  of  his  century.  It  is  only  vague 
and  general,  not  going  into  any  detailed  criticism  ;  and 
this  generality  is  also  the  character  of  the  tract  "  On  the 
Sublime,"  formerly  attributed  to  Longinus,  but  now 
placed  by  general  agreement  at  the  close  of  the 
Augustan  Age,  and  in  that  moment  of  reaction  from 
Alexandrianism  and  Asianism  to  the  pure  Atticism  of 
the  Golden  Age.  This  essay  seeks  to  stimulate  a  taste 
for  the  real  masterpieces  in  letters  rather  than  to  give 
any  analysis  of  their  excellence  ;  it  is  the  writing  of  a 
clever  dilettante  rather  than  of  a  professor,  and  though 
very  valuable  in  directing  the  public  taste,  can  hardly 
be  said  to  have  contained  new  knowledge.  And  yet 
among  all  the  books  of  this  age  none  has  received  more 
attention  than  this  remarkable  tract.  It  is  certainly  the 
most  modern  and  enlightened  of  all  that  the  Greeks 
have  left  us  on  the  theory  of  art.  Unfortunately  the 
text  is  miserably  lacerated,  and  often  breaks  off  in  the 
middle  of  an  important  discussion. 

The  general  attitude  the  author  assumes  is  that 
though  genius  is  distinctly  heaven-born,  its  splendid  re- 
sults are  attained  by  using  the  resources  of  art.  He 
rightly  holds  fast  to  the  great  Greek  principle  that  noth- 
ing perfect  can  be  produced  without  study,  that  spon- 
taneity may  suggest  but  will  never  work  out  what  is 
really  beautiful  or  majestic.  But  at  the  same  time  he 
agrees  perfectly  with  modern  criticism  in  recognizing 
that  irregularities  may  be  only  a  flaw  in  genius  of  the 
highest   order,    perhaps    even  a    characteristic    of   such 


Greek   Culture    Under  the  Romans.  313 


genius,  seeing  that  unvarying  correctness  is  seldom,  if 

ever,  the  attribute  of  the  highest  work.      Thus   in   criti-    ('titicism  of  the 

0  rhetor  Caecihus. 

cising  the  rhetor  Caecilius,  who  was  evidently  the  advo- 
cate of  strict  correctness,  and  who  consequently  placed 
the  pellucid  but  thin  graces  of  Lysias  above  the  richness 
of  Plato,  he  breaks  out  into  the  following  reflections  : 

What  was  in  the  minds  of  those  godlike  men  who  aimed  at 
the  highest  perfections  of  their  art,  when  they  despised  minute 
accuracy  of  detail  ?  This  among  many  other  considerations, 
that  nature  hath  not  made  our  species  mean  and  ignoble 
creatures,  but  introducing  us  to  life  and  all  the  universe  around 
it  as  to  a  great  festival  and  pageant,  to  be  spectators  of  all  its 
grandeur  and  keen  competitors  for  its  prizes,  hath  engrained  in 
our  souls  an  indelible  love  of  everything  that  is  great  and  there- 
fore more  divine  than  ourselves.  Hence  it  is  that  to  the  specu-  Man  is  bom 
lation  of  man  and  the  reach  of  his  imagination  not  all  the  uni-  [h  SidVal after 
verse  sufnceth,  but  our  thoughts  are  ever  passing  its  furthest 
bounds,  so  that  if  any  one  will  consider  in  his  own  life  how  far 
the  great  exceeds  the  beautiful,  he  will  know  forthwith  where- 
unto  we  were  created.  It  is  nature  which  tells  us  not  to  ad- 
mire the  rivulet  though  it  be  pellucid  and  fit  for  use,  but  the 
Nile,  the  Ister,  the  Rhine,  and  above  all  the  ocean  ;  nor  are  we 
struck  by  the  fire  upon  the  hearth,  however  clear  be  its  flame, 
but  rather  by  the  celestial  fires,  oft  though  they  be  obscured, 
or  again  by  the  crater  of  /Etna,  whose  eruptions  cast  from  its 
abysses  great  rocks  and  vast  masses,  and  send  forth  rushing 
torrents  of  essential  fire. 

On  these  grounds  he  worships  the  capricious  and 
variable  Plato,  and  appreciates  the  splendors  of  the 
rugged  Thucydides.  If  there  be  a  flaw  in  his  judgment 
it  is  in  his  coldness  toward  Aristophanes. 

Far  more  precise  were  the  studies  of  Dionysius  on  the 
great  prose  writers  of  his  people,  especially  on  the  ora-   Djonvsius.s 
tors  ;    and  had  all  his  work  been  preserved  we  might  GreeiTprose 
well  say  that  ancient  criticism  had  nothing  more  to  add  to 
his  researches.     And  yet  even  he  does  not  seem  to  have 
led  a  school,  but  to  have  been  an  independent  thinker. 


writers. 


314  A  Survey  of  Greek  Civilization. 


His  extant  studies  upon  Demosthenes  and  upon  Thu- 
cydides  make  us  regret  deeply  the  loss  of  most  of  his 
parallel  studies  on  the  other  orators.  Dio,  in  some  of 
his  orations,  speaks  as  if  the  decadence  of  Greece  was 
hopeless  and  complete.  But  we  cannot  but  suspect  that 
some  allowance  must  be  made  for  this  citizen  of  a 
second-rate  and  newly  civilized  town  in  remote  Asia 
Minor,  who  cannot  but  have  desired  to  uphold  Asiatic 
Hellenism  and  other  prosperous  Asiatic  Greeks,  at  the 
expense  of  the  poor  and  decayed  cities  of  older  and 
greater  fame  in  Greece  itself. 

For  there  is  considerable  reason  to  think  that  the 
Partial  revival  days  of  Dio  were  by  no  means  the  worst  which  Greece 
had  seen,  but  that  a  considerable  revival  had  taken 
place  since  its  complete  exhaustion  after  the  great  civil 
wars  with  their  terrible  requisitions  upon  life  and  prop- 
erty. It  is  true,  and  very  remarkable,  that  Asia  Minor 
revived  and  recovered  her  commercial  prosperity  with 
promptitude  and  lasting  success,  whereas  that  of  Greece 
can  hardly  ever  be  called  flourishing  again  till  the  trade 
in  silk  and  in  currants  made  some  stir  in  Justinian's 
time.  Still  there  were  always  certain  articles  of  export 
which,  in  other  days  and  with  other  habits,  would  have 
employed  much  industry.  Horses  from  the  now  ex- 
tended pastures  of  the  depopulated  country,  oil  from 
other  provinces  as  well  as  Attica,  honey  from  the  slopes 
of  Mount  Hymettus,  were  always  prized.  Far  more 
Trade  in  profitable  to  labor  was  the  production — no  longer  as  a 

statues'  fine    art,    but   as  a  trade  —  of    statues    at    Athens    and 

elsewhere  for  the  adornment  of  Asiatic  and  Italian 
temples  ;  so  were  the  famous  marble  quarries  of  the 
Cyclades,  which  seem,  however,  like  the  gold  and  silver 
mines,  to  have  been  often  a  monopoly  of  the  Romanyfa- 
cus,  and  thus  less  productive  than  might  be  expected. 


Greek   Culture    Under  the  Roma?is. 


315 


Dio's  picture 
of  life  at 
Borysthenes. 


Dio  was  an  itinerant  orator,  who  desired  to  be 
thought  a  moral  preacher,  not  teaching  any  special  phi- 
losophy but  using  his  great  eloquence  to  enforce  the 
ordinary  and  received  catalogue  of  social  and  moral  vir-  Dio  a  preacher 
tues,  especially  the  social  which  were  akin  to  politics, 
and  which  affected  the  general  well-being  of  each  city. 
For  this  purpose  he  not  only  uses  argument,  but  par- 
ables, if  I  may  so  call  the  picturesque  descriptions  of 
remote  or  primitive  life  among  poor  and  unknown 
Greeks,  which  are  meant  in  their  simplicity  and  purity 
to  afford  a  contrast  to  the  life  in  Alexandria  or  in 
Antioch.       I  shall  quote  from  the  two  most  remarkable. 

The  first  is  the  picture  he  gives  of  life  at  Borysthenes,  a 
Greek  settlement  at  the  mouth  of  the  Dnieper  on  the  north 
coast  of  the  Euxine,  whose  inhabitants  had  long  been  severed 
from  their  mother  country,  and  surrounded  with  Scythian  bar- 
barians far  more  intractable  to  civilization  than  Parthians  or 
even  Celts.  The  introduction  to  this  speech,  which  is  really  an 
essay  on  monarchy,  as  suggested  by  monotheism,  or  monarchy 
among  the  gods,  is  like  the  scenery  of  the  oration  "On 
Poverty,"  which  we  shall  presently  discuss;  and  therefore  I 
cannot  but  suspect  the  former,  as  I  suspect  the  latter,  of  being 
mere  dramatic  invention.  Thus  in  discussing  with  the  Borys- 
thenites  the  Platonic  view  that  the  rule  of  one  man  is  best,  he 
never  once  alludes  to  the  fact  that  the  "  Bosporan  kingdom," 
which  included  the  Crimea  and  the  Greek  marts  on  either  side 
of  it,  had  not  been  for  a  long  time  under  the  control  of  kings — 
the  last  kings  tolerated  within  the  Roman  sway,  a  nominal 
kingdom  till  the  reign  of  Constantine.  In  Dio's  time  Pliny 
mentions  a  messenger  from  King  Sauromates  coming  to  Nicaea. 
If  it  be  however  true  that  the  town  of  Olbia  (the  other  name 
for  Borysthenes)  was  left  independent,  it  would  still  be  more 
odd  that  he  should  discuss  with  a  "  free  people"  the  propriety 
of  monarchy  without  the  smallest  allusion  to  the  practical  bear- 
ing of  the  question.  Still,  as  he  repeats  in  his  "  Olympica  " 
that  he  had  visited  this  outlying  region  from  curiosity,  I  think 
we  may,  in  this  case,  accept  the  sophist's  picture  as  historical. 

He  begins  with  a  very  graphic  description  of  the  city  lying 


Description  of 
the  Euxine 
cities. 


316 


A  Survey  of  Greek  Civilization. 


Dio's  descrip- 
tion of  Borys- 
thenes. 


Greek  cities 
weakened  by 
attacks  of  the 
barbarians. 


His  meeting 
with  the  inhab- 
itants. 


on  a  tongue  of  land  where  the  great  rivers  Borysthenes  and 
Tanais  meet,  and  thence  continue  their  course  to  the  sea  over 
vast  shallows  studded  with  lofty  reeds,  which  appear  like  a 
forest  of  masts  to  approaching  mariners.  Here  was  the  great 
factory  for  preparing  salt  which  supplied  all  the  barbarians  of 
the  interior.  The  city  itself  he  found  greatly  shrunken  away  by 
successive  stormings  of  the  surrounding  barbarians,  with  whom 
it  had  been  for  centuries  at  war— the  last  great  reverse  being 
the  conquest  by  the  Getae  of  the  whole  coast  as  far  as  Apol- 
lonia  about  120  B.  C.  From  this  the  Greek  cities  had  never 
recovered,  some  being  wholly  deserted,  others  rebuilt  on  a 
small  scale,  and  obliged  to  admit  barbarians  as  occupiers. 
Borysthenes,  however,  was  settled  again,  to  serve  as  a  mart  for 
the  Scythians  with  the  Greeks,  who  would  otherwise  have 
abandoned  altogether  any  attempt  to  deal  with  the  barbarians. 
Yet  even  in  its  restored  state  the  houses  were  mean  and  the 
area  of  the  city  contracted.  It  was  attached,  so  to  speak,  to 
part  of  the  old  circuit  wall,  with  a  few  towers  remaining  of  the 
old  size  and  strength.  The  new  wall,  which  joins  the  arc  of 
the  old  circuit,  is  low  and  weak,  and  the  area  within  only 
partially  occupied  by  houses.  There  are  solitary  towers  still 
standing  out  in  the  country  far  apart  from  the  present  town. 
Another  sign  of  its  old  disaster  is  that  not  a  single  statue  in  the 
shrines  is  intact,  but  all  are  mutilated,  as  are  also  those  on  the 
other  monuments  of  the  city. 

Such  was  the  town  which  Dio  was  observing  with  interest  on 
a  summer  forenoon  from  the  suburb  along  the  river.  Some  of 
the  townsmen  joined  him,  and  there  comes  up  on  horseback  a 
fine  young  man,  who  dismounts  and  gives  his  horse  to  an 
attendant. 

"Under  his  short  light  black  Greek  cloak  (black  in  imitation 
of  the  Scythians)  he  had  a  huge  sword  and  trousers,  and  in  fact 
Scythian  dress.  This  Callistratus  was  reputed  equally  formid- 
able in  battle  and  zealous  in  philosophy.  Indeed  the  whole 
population  is  so  devoted  to  Homer  and  to  the  worship  of  his 
Achilles  (whose  temple  is  on  a  neighboring  island)  that 
though  they  talk  very  bad  and  barbarized  Greek,  most  of  them 
have  Homer  off  by  heart ;  a  few  go  so  far  as  to  study  Plato." 

Dio  then  quotes  to  them  a  saw  of  Phocylides,  whose  name 
they  do  not  know,  and  makes  some  disparaging  remark  on 
Homer  and  his  many  details  of  Achilles's  jumping  and  shout- 


Greek   Culture    Under  the  Romans.  317 

ing,  while  the  Gnomic  poet  gathers  much  ethical  wisdom  into 

a  couplet.     They  tell  Dio  that  but  for  their  extreme  respect  and 

liking  for  him,  no  citizen  of  the  place  would  have  tolerated 

any  aspersion  upon  the  divine  Achilles  and  the  well-nigh  divine 

Homer.     But  they  are  ready  to  hear  what  Dio  has  to  say,  even    of  Homer"  "P 

though  they  run  some  risk  in  discoursing  with  him  outside  the 

city. 

"For  yesterday  at  noon  the  Scythians  surprised  our  sentries, 
slaying  some,  and  taking  others  alive,  as  we  did  not  know    Dio,s  discou 
which  way  they  had  fled,  and  could  not  help  them,  and  even    in  the  city, 
then  the  gates  had  been  shut,  and  the  war  signal  was  flying 
from  the  walls." 

Yet  so  keen  were  they  that  they  all  came  down  armed  to  hear 
him.  Dio  then  proposes  not  to  discourse  on  the  promenade, 
but  to  go  inside  the  city,  and  they  gather  at  the  public  place  in 
front  of  the  Temple  of  Zeus — the  magistrates  and  elders  sitting 
round  upon  stone  steps,  and  the  crowd  standing  behind  them. 
The  sight  was  delightful  to  a  philosopher,  to  see  these  people 
dressed  in  antique  fashion  with  long  hair  and  beards,  one  of 
them  only  being  cropped  and  shaven,  much  to  their  disgust 
and  contempt.  For  he  was  supposed  to  be  obsequious  to  the 
Romans  and  to  have  adopted  their  fashion  accordingly. 

I  need  not  go  into  Dio's  discourse,  which  is  most  politely 
interrupted  by  one  who  tells  him  how  scarce  is  a  decent  visitor 
in  these  parts. 

"  For  most  of  the  Greeks  who  come  are  more  barbarous  than 
we  are,  traders  and  hucksters,  bringing  in  worthless  rags  and 
bad  wine  and  getting  nothing  better  in  exchange." 

Starting  from  a  query  about  Plato,  Dio  then  discourses  in 
favor  of  an  intelligent  monarchy. 

Let  us  now  turn  to  a  very  different  picture — that  of  primitive 
rural  life  in  his  seventh  oration. 

"  This  [he  opens]  I  am  going  to  narrate  from  my  own  ex- 
perience, not  from  hearsay.  For  perhaps  loquacity  and  the  ^fpdmiUve6 
difficulty  of  dropping  a  subject  are  not  only  features  of  old  age  ruraI  life 
— they  may  also  be  the  characteristics  bred  by  a  roving  life, 
probably  because  in  each  case  there  are  many  experiences 
which  men  recall  with  pleasure.  I  am  now  going  to  tell  what 
men  and  manners  I  stumbled  upon,  I  may  say,  in  the  midst  of 
Hellas. 

"  I  happened  to  be  crossing  from  Chios  with  some  fishermen 


318  A  Survey  of  Greek   Civilization. 


in  a  very  little  boat,  not  in  the  summer  season.  A  great  storm 
rose,  and  with  difficulty  we  escaped  into  the  '  hollows  of 
Eubcea.'  There  they  smashed  the  boat,  running  her  ashore 
on  a  rough  shingle  beach  under  the  cliffs,  and  they  went  off  to 
some  purple-shell  fishers  at  anchor  inside  the  nearest  claw  of 
land,  intending  to  work  with  them  and  remain  there.  So  I  was 
left  behind  alone,  with  no  place  of  refuge,  and  I  was  wandering 
at  random  along  the  shore,  on  the  chance  of  meeting  some  ship 
at  anchor  or  sailing  by.  After  a  long  walk,  during  which  I  did 
not  meet  a  soul,  I  came  upon  a  buck  which  had  just  fallen  from 
the  cliff  down  to  the  very  edge  of  the  water,  still  gasping  as  it 
was  being  touched  by  the  waves.  And  presently  I  thought  I 
heard  the  baying  of  dogs  far  above  me,  indistinctly  by  reason 
of  the  roar  of  the  sea.  Proceeding  therefore,  and  climbing  up 
with  great  difficulty  to  the  height  above  me,  I  found  the  dogs 
beating  about,  which  I  concluded  had  forced  the  game  to  spring 
over  the  cliff,  and  presently  I  came  upon  a  man,  whose  look 
and  dress  implied  a  hunter,  of  healthy  complexion,  wearing  his 
hair  long  behind  in  no  unmanly  fashion,  but  like  the  Euboeans 
whom  Homer  describes  coming  to  Troy.  And  he  hailed  me  : 
'  Stranger,  have  you  seen  a  buck  coming  this  way  ? '  to  which 
hunts'manhe  I  answered  :  '  There  he  is  in  the  wash  of  the  sea '  ;  and  I 
brought  him  down  to  his  game.  So  he  drew  the  buck  back 
from  the  water,  and  skinned  him  with  his  knife,  I  helping  as 
well  as  I  could,  and  then  he  took  the  haunches  with  the  skin, 
and  proceeded  to  carry  them  away.  He  invited  me  too  to  fol- 
low and  eat  a  share  of  the  venison,  as  his  dwelling  was  not  far 
off.  '  When  you  have  rested  the  night  with  us  you  can  come 
back  to  the  sea,  since  at  present  sailing  is  impossible  ;  nor  need 
you  apprehend  that  there  will  be  a  change  while  you  are  rest- 
ing, for  I  should  be  glad  to  think  the  storm  would  subside 
within  the  next  five  days,  but  it  is  not  likely,  so  long  as  you 
seethe  mountain  tops  capped  with  clouds  as  they  now  are.' 
He  went  on  to  ask  whence  I  came,  and  how  I  got  there,  and 
whether  my  boat  was  not  wrecked.  '  It  was  a  very  small 
one,'  I  answered,  'belonging  to  fishermen,  who  were  cross- 
ing, and  I,  being  pressed  for  time,  was  their  only  passenger, 
but  we  were  wrecked  upon  the  shore.'  'Very  naturally — 
look  how  wild  the  coast  is.  This  is  what  they  call  the  "  hol- 
lows of  Eubcea,"  and  a  ship  driven  in  here  hardly  ever  gets  out 
again.     Even  the  crews  are  generally  lost,  unless  they  are  in 


Greek   Culture   Under  the  Romans. 


3i9 


very  light  boats,  like  yours.  But  come  with  me  and  don't  fear. 
First  get  over  your  fatigues,  and  to-morrow  we  shall  consult 
what  to  do  to  send  you  on  safe,  as  we  have  now  made  acquaint- 
ance with  you.  For  you  seem  to  me  some  city  person,  not  a 
sailor  or  a  mechanic,  and  to  have  worn  down  your  body  by 
some  other  kind  of  hardship  than  theirs.'  I  of  course  went 
with  him  gladly,  for  I  never  was  afraid  of  being  robbed,  having 
nothing  with  me  but  a  shabby  cloak — so  hallowed  and  sacro- 
sanct a  thing  have  I  found  poverty,  which  men  violate  more 
rarely  even  than  they  would  a  herald  with  his  insignia. 

' '  On  the  way  he  told  me  how  he  lived  with  his  wife  and  chil- 
dren. '  There  are  two  of  us  living  in  the  same  place  ;  we 
have  married  sisters,  and  both  have  sons  and  daughters.  We 
live  mostly  by  the  chase,  with  the  help  of  a  little  farming.  For 
the  land  is  not  ours,  but  our  fathers  were  poor  and  free  like 
ourselves,  earning  their  bread  by  herding  cattle  for  one  of  the 
rich  men  of  this  island  who  possessed  many  droves  of  horses 
and  oxen,  many  flocks  of  sheep,  many  broad  acres,  and  much 
other  wealth  ;  in  fact  all  the  mountains  you  see  around  you. 
But  when  he  died,  and  his  property  was  confiscated — they  say 
he  was  put  to  death  by  the  emperor  [Nero?]  for  the  sake  of  his 
wealth — his  herds  were  at  once  driven  away,  and  with  them 
some  of  our  few  poor  beasts,  and  nobody  thought  of  paying 
our  wages.  So  we  had  to  remain  where  we  were  with  what 
cattle  we  had  left,  setting  up  some  tents,  and  a  courtyard  fenced 
with  paling,  not  large  but  secure,  on  account  of  the  calves,  for 
our  summer  use.  For  in  winter  we  grazed  the  plains,  where 
we  had  plenty  of  grass  and  made  hay.  In  the  summer  we  go 
off  to  the  mountains.'  " 

The  orator  proceeds  to  describe  in  detail  the  beautiful  situa- 
tion of  these  hunters'  home,  on  a  slope  close  to  running  water, 
with  fruitful  patches  of  land  well  manured  from  their  stable, 
and  fair  trees  giving  ample  shade.  And  as  they  had  spare  time 
they  turned  from  herding  to  hunting  with  their  dogs  ;  for  when 
the  cattle  were  all  driven  away,  two  of  the  dogs  who  went 
with  them,  missing  the  herdsmen,  turned  back  after  some  time 
to  their  accustomed  home. 

"These  dogs  followed  the  herdsmen,  and  only  gradually 
learned  to  pursue  game,  being  originally  mere  watch-dogs  to 
keep  off  wolves.  '  But  when  winter  came  on  our  parents  had 
no  out-of-door  work,  and  they  never  went  down  to  the  city  or 


A  hunter's  life. 


Beautiful  situ- 
ation of  the 
hunter's  home. 


320  A  Survey  of  Greek  Civilization. 

any  village  ;  so  they  made  their  huts  and  courtyards  water-tight 
and  comfortable,  and  took  into  cultivation  the  land  about  them, 
and  found  hunting  far  easier  in  the  winter.  For  tracks  are 
clearer  in  the  wet  soil,  and  snow  shows  the  game  far  off,  and 
leaves  tracks  as  clear  as  a  high  road.'  " 

So  they  settled  there,  and  were  content.  The  two  original 
settlers  were  now  dead,  having  lived  out  a  hale  and  vigorous 
old  age.  One  of  their  widows  still  remained.  It  was  her  son 
whom  Dio  had  met. 

"'The  other  man  [his  cousin]  has  never  been  to  the  city, 

though  now  fifty  years  old,  but  I  twice  only — once  with  my 

The  hunter's        father  when  we  kept  the  great  man's  herds,  and  again  when  a 

visit  to  the  city.  ,  .  r  .r  .       ,  , 

man  came  asking  us  for  money,  as  if  we  had  any,  and  com- 
manding us  to  follow  him  to  the  city.  We  swore  we  had  none, 
for  we  would  have  given  it  to  him  at  once  if  we  had.  So  we 
entertained  him  as  best  we  could,  and  gave  him  two  buckskins, 
and  then  I  went  with  him  to  the  city  [probably  Carystos, 
though  Dio  takes  care  to  leave  it  so  vague  that  Chalcis  would 
suit  as  well].  For  he  said  one  of  us  must  go  and  tell  all  about 
it.  So  I  saw  again  many  great  houses  and  a  strong  wall  round 
them  with  square  towers  in  it,  and  many  ships  lying  in  the 
harbor,  as  if  in  an  inland  lake.  We  have  nothing  like  it  here, 
where  you  landed  ;  that  is  why  the  ships  get  lost.  These 
things  I  saw  and  a  great  crowd  gathered  together  with  much 
confusion  and  shouting,  so  that  I  thought  there  was  a  general 
fight  going  on. 

"  'The  man  then  brought  me  to  the  magistrates,  and  said 

laughing:    "This  is  the  man  you  sent  me  for,  but  he  owns 

nothing  except  his  back  hair  and  a  hut  of  very  strong  sticks  !  " 

Then  the  magistrates  went  to  the  theater,  and  I  along  with 

them.'  " 

The  hunter  here  describes  the  theater,  adding  : 

"  '  Perhaps  you  are  laughing  at  me  for  telling  you  what  you 

A  public  know  quite  well.     For  some  time  the  mob  was  engaged  at 

meeting.  other  things,  at  times  shouting  in  good  humor  and  applauding, 

at  times  the  very  reverse.     This,  their  anger,  was  dangerous, 

and  they  terrified  the  men  at  whom  they  shouted,  so  that  some 

went  round  supplicating,  and  some  threw  off  their  cloaks  in 

dread,   for  the  sound  was   like  a  sudden   wave,  or  thunder. 

Indeed  I  myself  was  almost  knocked  down  by  the  shout.    And 

various  people  got  up  to  address  the  assembly  from  the  midst 


Greek   Culture    Under  the  Romans.  321 

of  it,  or  from  the  stage  ;  some  with  few  words,  others  with 
many.  Some  they  listened  to  for  a  long  time  ;  others  they 
would  not  stand  from  the  outset,  or  allow  them  to  utter  a 
syllable.'  " 

I  cannot  give  the  sequel,  which  goes  on  through 
several  pages  of  additional  matter  not  less  interesting, 
and  which  ends  with  a  charming  love  affair.*  But 
enough  has  been  said  to  show  that  in  the  opinion  of  this 
very  competent  judge,  the  lowest  and  poorest  country- 
people  and  the  most  outlying  settlements  belonging  to 
the  Hellenic  nation  still  maintained  that  high  level  of 
intelligence  and  of  taste  which  made  them  the  models 
and  the  instructors  of  surrounding  nations. 

We  pass  in  conclusion  to  Plutarch,  who,  if  Dio  was  a 

,  ....  .  Plutarch  not 

roving  or  vagabond  teacher,  practicing  his  persuasive-  a  traveler. 
ness  upon  all  the  cities  of  Asiatic  Greece  in  turn  and 
even  going  to  Rome  on  his  mission,  was  the  very 
opposite  ;  a  stay-at-home  in  the  small  town  of  Chae- 
ronea  in  Bceotia,  which  he  would  not  desert,  says  he,  lest 
so  it  might  become  smaller.  But  from  here  he  sent  out 
his  moral  and  historical  treatises  into  the  world,  where 
they  have  never  ceased  to  be  popular,  often  to  be  most 
effective  in  their  teaching.  All  political  life  of  a  serious 
kind  was  gone  ;  the  public  questions  which  remained 
were  not  worth  quarrelling  about  ;  though  this  con- 
sideration does  not  seem  to  have  allayed  local  jealousies 
and  heart-burnings. 

It  is  this  altered  state  of  public  life  which  justifies 
Plutarch's  portrait  of  the  ideal  Greek  citizen,  the  popu- 
lar man  in  the  true  sense  of  the  word,  a  portrait  which   resemblance 
we  cannot  but  suspect  to  be  intended  for  his  own.      For   l 
the  naive  self-consciousness  of  the  man  appears  through 
every  part  of  his  works.      In  this,  as  in  so  many  other 

*The   reader  will   find   the  full   text  in  my  "Greek  World  under  Roman 
Sway,"  Chap.  XII. 


322 


A  Survey  of  Greek   Civilization. 


Plutarch's  por- 
trait of  the  ideal 
Greek  citizen. 


His  preference 
for  monarchy. 


features,  both  of  his  inner  spirit  and  his  outward  sur- 
roundings, does  he  remind  us  of  Polybius,  whose  prin- 
ciples and  policy,  though  adopted  at  the  very  outset 
of  this  decadence,  were  so  closely  analogous.  Upon 
this  resemblance  I  desire  particularly  to  insist,  for  I 
know  no  more  remarkable  evidence  of  the  persistence  of 
the  same  kind  of  life  and  thinking  in  Greece  for  at  least 
two  hundred  years.      Here  is  the  portrait  in  question : 

First  of  all  let  him  be  easy  of  access,  and  the  common  prop- 
erty of  all ;  keeping  open  house,  as  it  were  a  harbor  of  refuge 
to  all  that  need  it ;  showing  his  protection  and  his  generosity 
not  merely  in  cases  of  want  and  by  active  help,  but  also  in  sym- 
pathy with  the  afflicted,  and  rejoicing  with  those  that  rejoice ; 
never  annoying  others  by  bringing  with  him  a  crowd  of  attend- 
ants to  the  public  baths,  or  by  securing  good  places  at  the  the- 
ater ;  never  notorious  for  his  offensive  luxury  and  lavishness, 
but  living  like  the  rest  of  his  neighbors  in  dress  and  diet,  in  the 
bringing  up  of  his  children,  and  the  appointments  of  his  wife, 
as  intending  to  be  a  man  and  a  citizen  on  a  par  with  the  public 
about  him.  He  should  also  be  ever  ready  to  give  friendly  ad- 
vice and  gratuitous  advocacy,  and  offer  sympathetic  arbitration 
in  differences  of  man  and  wife,  of  friend  and  friend,  spending  no 
small  part  of  the  day  on  the  bema  or  in  the  market-place,  and  in 
all  his  other  life  drawing  to  him,  as  the  south  wind  does  the 
clouds,  wants  and  trusts  from  all  sides,  serving  the  state  with 
his  private  thoughts,  and  not  regarding  politics,  as  many  do,  a 
troublesome  business  or  tax  upon  his  time,  but  rather  a  life's 
work.  By  these  and  all  other  such  means  he  attracts  and 
attaches  to  him  the  public,  which  contrasts  the  bastard  and 
spurious  fawning  and  bribing  in  others  with  this  man's  genuine 
public  spirit  and  character. 

There  had  been  days  when  such  a  man  would  have 
hoped  for  absolute  sway  in  his  city,  nor  do  Plutarch's 
tirades  against  tyrants,  copied  from  the  commonplaces 
of  the  old  dispossessed  aristocrats,  outweigh  his  distinct 
preference  for  the  rule  of  one  man,  whose  duty  it  once 
had  been,  if  he  were  convinced  of  his  own  fitness,  to  as- 


Greek  Culture   Under  the  Romans.  323 

sume  the  diadem.  But  now  all  that  a  popular  politician 
could  gain  was  the  responsibility  and  burden  of  ex- 
pensive honorary  duties.  In  the  tract  "Upon  Exile," 
a  very  rhetorical  performance,  which  rather  makes  a 
case  than  expresses  a  conviction,  the  main  profit  of  exile 
is  represented  as  the  escape  from  these  duties.  ' '  You 
have  no  longer  a  fatherland  dragging  at  you,  bothering 
you,  ordering  you  about  ;  crying  :  '  Pay  taxes,  go  on  an 
embassy  to  Rome,  entertain  the  governor,  undertake 
public  festivals.'  "  Of  these  requirements  I  fancy  the 
journeys  to  Rome  must  have  been  the  most  exacting. 
For  though  very  young  men  might  greatly  enjoy  a  trip  Exacting  duties 
to  the  capital,  even  with  the  risks  of  dying  abroad,  the  to  Romanm-^ 
envoys  sent  with  formal  compliments,  in  the  hope  of  ob- 
taining real  benefits,  were  more  likely  to  be  elderly  men; 
they  were  not  certain  to  find  the  emperor  at  home,  and 
must  follow  him  even  to  the  Pillars  of  Hercules,  or  at 
least  through  Italy,  where  the  inn-keepers  were  notori- 
ous extortioners  ;  and  moreover  the  waiting  in  ante- 
rooms, the  insolence  of  Roman  senators  and  imperial 
officials,  must  have  been  galling  even  to  an  obsequious 
Greek.  We  can  well  imagine  how  the  public  at  home, 
who  were  ready  to  accord  them  statues  and  honorary 
inscriptions  if  they  succeeded,  would  treat  them  if  they 
returned  without  gaining  their  object — by  far  the  most 
likely  result. 

Plutarch  shows  us  a  greater  conservative  persistence 
in  the  second  main  department  of  public  life,  religion —   piutarch's 
ritual  and  festivals  which  were  the  public  relaxation,  as  j^istence  in 
contrasted  with  politics,  which  were  still  the  pretended  Greek  rellglon- 
business  of  every  Greek  polity.      On  this  side  of  life  the 
information  our  author  gives  us  is  not  less  explicit,  and 
full  of  the  same  inconsistencies.      It  will  be  understood 
that  for  the  present  I  shall  omit  all  account  of  philoso- 


324  A  Survey  of  Greek   Civilization. 


phy  as  a  school  of  morals,  a  very  notable  part  of  Greek 
religion  in  one  sense,  but  wholly  dissociated  from  the 
traditional  rites  and  ceremonies,  and  the  traditional  the- 
ologies of  the  people.  It  is  the  general  effect  as  regards 
public  worship  in  the  temples  and  at  oracles,  and  at  the 
established  festivals,  which  I  seek  now  to  derive  from 
Plutarch.  Nor  is  the  task  very  easy  from  a  man  of  com- 
promises, who  desires  to  adopt  reforms  and  yet  retain 
His  attitude  to  the  old  courses,  who  would  be  a  philosopher  and  yet  a 
S1'P'  defender  of  tradition.  I  think  his  real  attitude  is  best  to 
be  gathered  from  the  following  very  noble  passage  : 

For  the  Deity  is  not  a  thing  without  soul  or  spirit  under  the 
hand  of  man  [he  has  just  been  censuring  the  use  of  the  word 
Demeler  for  wheat,  and  of  Dionysus  for  wine],  but  of  such 
material  gifts  have  we  considered  the  gods  to  be  the  givers  who 
grant  them  to  us  continuously  and  adequately — the  gods  who 
differ  not  one  from  the  other,  as  barbarian  and  Greek,  as  of  the 
south  or  of  the  north ;  but  if  the  sun  and  the  moon,  and 
heaven,  earth,  and  sea,  are  the  same  to  all,  though  they  be 
called  by  different  names,  so  for  the  One  Reason  that  sets  all 
these  things  in  order,  and  the  One  Providence  that  controls 
them,  and  for  the  subordinate  forces  that  direct  each  several 
department,  various  honors  and  titles  have  been  established  by 
law  among  divers  nations,  and  men  use  hallowed  symbols, 
here  obscure,  there  clearer,  which  lead  our  thoughts  to  God, 
not  without  risk  of  failure  ;  for  some  have  slipped  altogether 
from  the  path,  and  fallen  into  superstition,  while  others  avoid- 
ing the  slough  of  superstition  have  gone  over  the  precipice  of 
atheism. 

His  theory  of  He  tries  to  show  in  myriad  instances  that  the  rituals  of 

EgypUahand  Egyptians  and  Greeks  were  the  same  in  idea  ;  and 
Greek  religions.  as  regar(js  the  myths  he  has  recourse  to  either  of  the  ex- 
planatory processes  which  he  strongly  deprecates  when 
their  consequences  are  carried  out  boldly — rationalism 
and  allegory.  The  former  was  the  Epicurean,  the  latter 
the  Stoic  device,  adopted  of  course  by  other  schools  in 


Greek  Culture   Under  the  Romans.  325 

their  turn.  Plutarch  will  only  adopt  them  when  they 
suit  his  convenience,  and  supplements  them  with  an- 
other "theory  of  evasion,"  which  made  a  great  noise  in 
the  early  Christian  controversies.  I  mean  his  doctrine  of  Demon  theory, 
demons,  or  beings  intermediate  between  man  and  God, 
who  are  both  beneficent  and  maleficent,  in  fact  both 
angels  and  devils,  and  to  whom  are  to  be  attributed  all 
the  polytheistic  vagaries  of  popular  mythology.  The 
so-called  immoralities  of  the  gods,  so  great  a  stumbling-  demon  theory, 
block  to  every  sober  critic,  were  all  to  be  referred  to  the 
maleficent  demons. 

There  is  much  that  is  reasonable,  much  that  is  elo- 
quent, in  this  theory  ;  and  yet  what  is  more  singular, 
what  more  melancholy,  than  to  see  the  sage  clinging  to 
the  sinking  ship,  or  rather  trying  to  stop  the  leak  and 
declare  her  seaworthy,  while  in  his  own  country,  as  well 
as  through  the  Hellenistic  East,  there  had  lately  been 
preached  a  new  faith  which  he  never  took  pains  to 
understand  ?  He  can  tell  us  how  the  Jewish  high  priest 
was  clothed,  but  as  to  even  Jewish  dogmas  he  manifests 
the  grossest  ignorance.  His  collection  of  the  placita  of 
philosophers  is  superficial  and  jejune  ;  his  studies  in 
comparative  religion,  though  his  theory  asserted  the 
equal  dignity  and  veracity  of  all  religions,  are  even 
more  superficial  and  careless.  He  professed  himself 
a  cosmopolitan  thinker  ;  he  was  really  a  narrow  and 
bigoted  Hellene  ;  as  narrow  and  exclusive  as  the  old  op- 
ponents of  Alexander  had  been  in  their  day.  This  in-  row  Hellene?^ 
grained  bigotry  was  the  real  secret  of  the  decay  and 
downfall  of  Greece.  While  the  Asiatic  cities  had  learned 
at  least  something  from  contact  with  the  East,  Greece 
had  remained  behind,  had  become  poor  and  depopu- 
lated, stagnant  in  thought  as  well  as  in  active  life. 
There  is  no  more  signal  instance  of  this  stagnation  than 


326  A  Survey  of  Greek  Civilization. 

the  sayings  and  counsels  of  Plutarch  on  politics  and  on 
religion. 

The  same  may  be  said  of  his  utterances  on   art.      No 
Stagnation  in       new  production  of  any  merit  is  mentioned  ;  old  statues. 

Greek  art.  L  J 

old  temples,  old  pictures  were  still  prized.  People  went 
to  be  shown  round  Delphi  by  chattering  cicerones  ;  they 
frequented  picture  galleries  ;  they  admired  the  bloom  on 
ancient  bronzes  ;  they  praised  the  splendor  of  Homer  or 
Pindar,  the  music  of  the  ancients,  which  was  no  longer 
understood.  On  these  things  Plutarch  copies  Plato  or 
Aristoxenus.  But  though  statues  were  set  up  in  crowds 
to  benefactors  of  their  several  cities,  we  hear  that  these 
monuments  of  liberality  were  kept  in  stock,  often  with- 
out the  heads,  which  were  added  when  the  dedication 
was  ascertained  and  the  statue  bought  ;  and  even  this 
was  more  tolerable  than  the  practice  of  erasing  old  dedi- 
cations and  renaming  the  effigies  of  ancient  gods  and 
heroes. 
Plutarch's  ^n  addition  to  his  tracts  on  these  serious  topics  Plu- 

tarch has  left  us  many  discussions  upon  the  every-day 
society  which  he  loved  and  which  he  sought  to  improve  ; 
he  is  very  full  and  suggestive  on  the  art  of  conversation, 
though  the  topics  he  selects  as  suitable  for  a  dinner-table 
are  certainly  not  those  which  we  should  choose.*  He 
gives  directions  concerning  the  choice  and  number  of 
the  company,  the  question  of  precedence  at  table,  the 
use  of  wit  and  satire  in  repartee,  the  ostentation  of 
some,  the  meanness  of  others,  and  a  host  of  other  like 
topics  which  I  have  discussed  in  another  work.t  These 
things  are  not  worth  repeating  here  except  with  the  de- 


table-talk. 


*  The  habit  of  recitations  in  Greek  had  lately  (he  says)  come  into  fashion  at 
Rome,  in  his  own  day,  and  he  discusses  ("  Symposium  "  VII.,  8)  what  authors 
art-  fit  for  this  purpose.  He  protests  against  Plato's  dialogues  being  paraded 
at  a  dinner-table,  hut  says  elsewhere  [ibid,  qucestiones  5.  41  that  Kuripides, 
Pindar,  and  Mcnandcr,  especially  the  last,  are  more  suitable. 

t  "  The  Greek  World  under  Roman  Sway." 


328 


A  Survey  of  Greek   Civilization. 


Unpleasant  pic 
ture  of  Greek 
society  in  Plu- 
tarch. 


Plutarch's 
vanity. 


tails  which  give  them  freshness  and  interest.  Here  and 
there  we  come  upon  some  admission  or  some  compro- 
mise regarding  morality  which  shocks  us  not  a  little  in 
the  midst  of  much  that  is  lofty,  much  that  is  wise.  On 
the  question  of  charity  he  says  and  thinks  things  which, 
taken  by  themselves,  would  make  us  rank  him  on  no 
very  high  level  among  the  world's  great  moralists. 

But  in  other  respects  also  the  society  of  Greece  does 
not  appear  to  us  in  very  fair  colors,  even  through  this 
most  favorable  medium.  I  repudiate,  indeed,  altogether 
the  picture  drawn  by  Hertzberg  in  his  history  of  the 
shocking  features  taken  from  the  novels  of  the  day — 
features  rendered  impossible  by  the  virtues  which  he  ex- 
tracts from  Plutarch's  and  Dio's  society.  This  random 
setting  down  of  every  narrative  now  extant  as  equally 
good  evidence  is  a  proceeding  only  saved  from  ridicule 
by  the  great  learning  and  earnestness  of  the  writer. 

But  making  all  due  reservations,  there  is  something 
vain  and  self-conscious,  not  only  in  the  general  com- 
plexion of  the  social  meetings  which  Plutarch  so  care- 
fully describes  ;  there  is  even  some  of  it  in  the  old  man 
himself,  who  is  evidently  proud  of  his  position,  his  vir- 
tues, his  reputation,  and  though  he  often  alludes  to  the 
follies,  the  loquacity,  the  conceit  of  old  age,  affords  in 
his  own  person  a  specimen,  though  perhaps  a  very 
lovable  one,  of  all  these  imperfections.  There  is  to  me 
in  this,  as  in  every  other  phase  of  Greek  life  which  I 
have  studied,  a  certain  want,  an  absence  of  the  calmness 
and  dignity  which  we  require  in  the  perfect  gentleman. 
Aristotle's  disagreeable  grand  seigneur,  who  ever  stands 
upon  his  dignity,  is  as  far  removed  from  our  ideal  as  is 
Plutarch,  with  his  garrulous  unreserve.  Nor  do  I  im- 
agine that  the  domestic  arrangements  of  the  Greek 
houses,  even  the  most  wealthy,  ever  attained  the  real 


Greek   Culture   Under  the  Romans. 


329 


cleanliness  which  we  consider  the  essence  of  refinement. 
The  prying  man,  he  tells  us,  is  to  avoid  looking  in  at 
open  doors,  "  For  it  is  not  right  or  fair  to  the  owners, 
nor  is  the  result  pleasant.  Within,  ill-favored  sights 
meet  the  stranger's  eye,  pots  and  pans  lying  in  disorder, 
and  women-slaves  sitting  about,  and  nothing  fine  or  de- 
lightful." It  was  well  if  you  did  not  hear  the  lash,  or 
the  outcry  of  the  slaves  being  punished,  or  maids  upon 
the  rack  ;  an  ominous  passage,  for  he  couples  it  with  the 
untidinesses  to  be  witnessed  about  the  home  of  a  disso- 
lute man,  the  ground  wet  with  wine,  and  the  fragments 
of  garlands  lying  about.  No  doubt  our  superior  notions 
regarding  these  matters  are  due  to  the  influence  of  the 
women  of  the  house. 

And  yet  it  is  plain  that  in  this  age  the  mistress  of  the 
house  had  at  last  obtained  some  of  her  rights.  It  was 
probably  in  imitation  of  what  they  saw  in  Rome  that  the 
richer  people  in  Bceotia  and  Attica  adopted  the  freer 
treatment  of  the  sex,  which  they  had  long  noticed,  but 
not  copied  at  Sparta.  Plutarch's  wife  paid  visits  and  re- 
ceived guests,  even  when  her  husband  was  absent,  sat  at 
table  with  him,  and  joined  in  all  his  public  interests. 
But  nevertheless  his  "Conjugal  Precepts"  make  it  plain 
that  he  regarded  all  this  as  a  mere  concession  or  toler- 
ation on  the  part  of  the  husband,  to  which  the  wife  had 
no  claim  in  the  nature  of  things,  just  as  he  enjoins  kind- 
ness and  mercy  to  slaves,  without  for  one  moment  dis- 
allowing slavery.  In  fact,  the  age  was  mending  its 
manners  little  by  little,  by  gradual  improvement  and 
gentler  habits,  just  as  its  moralist  is  always  exhorting 
the  individual  to  combat  his  vices  by  daily  resolves  and 
small  advances.  Such  a  course  of  moral  hygiene  is 
rational,  but  has  never  been  really  effectual.  It  requires 
a    new    dogma,   a   great  revelation,   a  startling  reform 


Lack  of  clean- 
liness and  order 
in  Greek  house- 
keeping. 


Freer  life  of 
Greek  women 
at  this  period. 


Plutarch's 
"  Conjugal 
Precepts." 


33Q 


A  Survey  of  Greek  Civilization. 


Dio's  and 
Plutarch's  igno- 
rance of  Chris- 
tianity and  of 
Judaeism, 


Pliny's  recog- 
nition of  the 
spread  of  Chris- 
tianity in  the 
first  century- 


to  carry  with  it  the  weak  and  wavering  masses  of  man- 
kind, who  have  not  the  strength  or  the  patience  to  work 
out  their  own  salvation. 

Even  now  "the  Word  had  been  made  flesh,  and 
dwelt  among  them,  full  of  grace  and  truth  ' '  ;  even  now 
the  Gospel  had  been  preached  in  Syria,  in  "  all  Asia," 
in  Macedonia,  in  Corinth  ;  and  yet  the  great  contempo- 
raries, Dio,  Plutarch,  nay,  even  Josephus,  seem  hardly 
to  have  heard  of  it.  Had  Plutarch  been  at  Athens 
when  St.  Paul  came  there,  he  would  have  been  the  first 
to  give  the  apostle  a  respectful  hearing,  as  he  himself 
preached  the  real  identity  of  all  religions,  the  spirituality 
and  unity  of  the  Deity,  and  the  right  of  all  nations 
to  name  inferior  gods  or  demons  in  accordance  with 
their  various  traditions.  But  no  ;  as  Judaeism  was  un- 
known to  him  beyond  the  vestments  of  the  high  priest, 
so  Christianity,  first  identified  everywhere  as  a  Jewish 
schism,  was  still  beyond  his  ken. 

It  is  not  till  the  first  century  has  actually  closed  that 
Pliny  is  startled  to  find  in  Bithynia  the  temples  deserted, 
the  altars  forgotten,  and  a  new  religion  overrunning  the 
province.  Even  then  we  may  assume  that  Christianity 
was  very  little  known  in  Greece  beyond  Corinth,  and  in 
all  the  Macedonian  towns  only  among  Jews  and  people 
of  the  poorest  class.  For  the  severance  of  Greece  and 
Asia  Minor  is  not  less  remarkable  at  this  time  than  their 
respective  unity  under  Roman  rule.  I  have  spoken  of 
this  already  as  regards  the  Greece  of  Plutarch.  But 
even  he  stands  aloof  completely  from  the  Hellenism 
of  Asia  Minor,  and  there  is  but  one  brief  tract  (and  is  it 
genuine?)  which  represents  the  writer  as  residing  in  the 
turmoil  and  confusion  of  the  principal  assize  town  of  the 
province — Ephesus  or  Pergamum — which  he  describes 
as  a  scene  of  passion  and  of  misery.     So  Dio  on  his  side 


Greek  Culture   Under  the  Romans.  331 

speaks  with  a  sort  of  complacency  of  the  decay  and  dis- 
grace of  Athens,  and  of  its  vulgar  and  base  imitations  of  ofSAthei|al°USy 
Roman  vices,  as  if  the  jealous  Asiatic  Hellenist  felt  that 
although  the  wealth  and  prosperity  of  the  Asiatic  towns 
were  now  vastly  superior,  there  was  still  a  primacy  of 
sentiment  about  the  name  of  Athens  and  of  Greece 
which  no  stoas  or  exedras  or  liberalities  from  emperors 
and  rich  citizens  could  supply. 


POSTSCRIPT. 

I  have  now  endeavored  according  to  my  ability  to 
give  a  general  view  of  the  great  subject  intrusted  to  me 
in  this  book.  Had  I  attempted  to  touch  upon  even  a 
tithe  of  the  many  topics  that  crowded  upon  me  from  the 
literature  in  which  I  have  spent  my  life,  the  book  would 
have  been  a  mere  kaleidoscope  of  colors,  and  would 
have  left  no  permanent  impression.  It  was  imperative, 
therefore,  to  make  a  selection  ;  and  in  so  doing  I  have 
been  led  by  my  own  fancy,  by  the  preference  with  which 
my  own  mind,  without  any  suggestion  from  books, 
brought  up  one  topic  and  neglected  the  others. 
Whether  this  was  a  safe  guide  is  of  course  doubtful  ; 
every  one  has  his  prepossessions,  and  they  may  not  be 
agreeable  to  other  men,  who  desire  a  methodical  survey, 
and  who  may  complain  that  many  a  topic  of  great  im- 
portance has  been  perhaps  omitted,  perhaps  slightly 
mentioned.  If  any  are  so  disposed  I  sincerely  trust 
they  will  take  up  the  subject  afresh,  and  treat  it  with 
special  regard  to  my  omissions.  There  is  more  than 
enough  room  for  many  other  independent  books  on  the 
same  great  and  fascinating  subject.  It  is  hard,  how- 
ever, to  imagine  any  of  them  attractive  unless  it  bears 
the  individual  stamp  of  its  author  ;  the  idiosyncrasies,  it 
mav  be,  of  his  mind  ;  the  peculiarities  of  his  conception 
of  Greek  life.  I  will  not  deny  that  in  many  respects 
mine  differ  widely  from  that  of  other  men,  whose 
authority  and  fame  are  far  greater  in  the  philological 
world.     What  better,  even  in  the  face  of  this  danger, 


Postscript.  333 

can  a  man  do,  than  go  straight  to  the  sources,  and  hav- 
ing studied  them  for  himself,  reproduce  his  impressions 
honestly,  decidedly,  plainly,  avoiding  the  extremes  of 
dogmatism  and  of  self-depreciation  ?  The  latter  is 
indeed  often  the  cloak  for  mere  vanity,  and  brooks  no 
contradiction  even  of  an  opinion  put  forward  under  the 
garb  of  a  tentative  theory.  Provided  a  writer  who  has 
shown  proof  of  research  labels  each  new  opinion  as  his 
own,  and  not  as  an  accepted  truth,  there  can  be  no 
complaint  that  he  is  passing  off  paradoxes  or  individual 
fancies  as  historic  truths.  So  far  the  personal  element 
in  his  writing  is  necessary  as  a  caution  to  the  reader. 

It  is  a  matter  of  frequent  remark  that  no  impersonal 
history  is  ever  striking  or  suggestive  ;  it  is  far  better  to 
learn  from  the  prejudiced  and  partial  thinkers  who  main- 
tain opposite  sides  of  a  question,  than  from  the  judicial 
mind  that  calmly  sums  up  the  arguments  of  both.  Even 
a  nation  seems  to  progress  more  rapidly  under  govern- 
ment by  party  than  under  a  committee  of  the  best  men 
chosen  from  all  shades  of  opinion. 

These  are  the  excuses  I  have  to  make  for  writing  this 
personal  and  partial  book,  wherein  are  stated  many  sub- 
jective views,  and  wherein  many  judgments  current 
among  Greek  scholars  are  ignored  or  silently  contro- 
verted. The  reader  will  find  in  my  earlier  and  more 
expanded  works  on  the  same  subject  the  reasons  which 
have  persuaded  me  in  each  case.  But  in  most  instances 
it  was  not  requisite  to  give  references  ;  my  American 
readers,  who  have  long  befriended  me  and  given  an  ear 
to  what  I  say,  will  either  take  my  word  for  it  that  I  have 
thought  out  seriously  what  is  put  forward,  or  they  will 
already  know  where  to  find  the  fuller  arguments  which 
support  my  conclusions.  This  much  is  certain  :  the 
longer  any  one  studies  Greek  letters  and  Greek  art,  the 


334  Postscript. 

more  deeply  will  he  convince  himself  that  no  modern 
thinker  can  satisfy  himself  (not  to  say  his  readers)  in 
any  attempt  to  reproduce  the  impression  which  grows 
upon  him.  Learned  men  in  Germany  have  written 
great  books  of  detail  on  each  department  in  which  the 
Greeks  excelled.  Have  their  weighty  tomes,  bristling 
with  references,  made  the  great  problem  easier  ?  French 
and  English  men  have  written  brief  essays  and  lively 
sketches  concerning  it.  Have  they  satisfied  the  earnest 
inquirer  ?  I  have  no  hope  of  being  able  to  steer  between 
the  Scylla  and  the  Charybdis  of  this  criticism. 


r 


INDEX. 


Acarnanian  League,  224. 
Achaean  League,  115,  224,  296,  307. 
Achaeans,  71. 
Acropolis,  84,  146,  291. 
Adaptability  of  the  Greeks,  221. 
yEschines,  192-195. 
jEschylus,  122,  123-128,210. 
yEtolian  League,  224,  296. 
Afterglow  of  Greek  literature,  308. 
Agamemnon,  22,  33. 
"Agamemnon,"  the,  124,  126. 
Agesilaus,  168. 
Alcaeus,  72,  89,  102. 
Alcman,  78,  79,  83. 
Alcmseonidse,  118. 
Alexander  the  Great,  223,  226-231,  : 

241,  242-246. 
Alexandria,  280-283,  286-288. 
Alexandrian  art,  287. 
Alexandrian  literature,  284-286. 
Amphictyonic  Synod,  192,  193,  194. 
Amphissians,  193. 
Amyclae,  30. 
Anaxagoras,  211. 
"  Anthology,"  189,  311. 
Antigonus  Gonatas,  247,  257. 
Antioch,  280-282. 
Antiphon,  139. 
Apelles,  235. 

Apollonius  Rhodius,  286. 
Aratus,  copied  by  Virgil,  212. 
Arcadia,  79,  174. 
Arcadian  League,  115. 
Archilochus,  42,  88. 
Architecture,  130. 
Argos,  31,  70,  77. 
Aristarchus,  284,  294. 
Aristides,  132. 

Aristophanes,  151,  165-167,  178,  266. 
Aristotle,  33,  201-204,  226,  227. 
Arsinoe,  244-245. 
Art,  13,  65,  72,  84-86. 
Artabazus,  122. 


Aspasia,  177. 

Athens,  84,  174. 

Attalids,  288-2S9,  290,  291. 

Attica,  soil  of,  116. 

Autonomy,  struggle  for,  149. 

"  Bee-hive  "  tombs,  30. 

Bishop  Berkeley's  style,  211. 

Bceotia,  95,  115. 

Browning's  translations  of  Euripides, 

159- 
Brutus,  300-301. 
Burial,  39. 
Byzantium,  106. 
Cadmus,  32. 

"  Cassandra  "  of  Lycophron,  286. 
Chaeronea,  195. 
Chaeronea,  lion  of,  196. 
"  Characters  "  of  Theophrastus,  266. 
Chrysippus,  256,  258. 
Cleanthes,  256,  257. 
Clisthenes,  118. 

"  Common  "  dialect,  the,  234,  309. 
"  Constitution  of  Athens,"  the,  96,  134. 
Corcyra,  massacres  at,  154. 
Cos,  273. 
Cremation,  38. 
Cruelty  to  slaves,  215. 
Cult  of  the  emperors,  244,  303. 
Cyrus,  169. 

Darius  Ochus,  187,  225. 
Death,  Athenian  attitude  to,  162-163. 
Delphic  oracle,  mistake  of,  120. 
Demetrius,  247. 
Demetrius,  deification  of,  244. 
Dtmocritus,  211. 
Demon  theory,  325. 
Demosthenes,    175,   188-190,    196,    197, 

199,  230. 
Dicaearchus,  267. 
Dio  Chrysostom,  311,  315-321. 
Diodorus,  302. 
Diogenes  the  Cynic,  257. 
Dionysius  of  Halicarnassus,  311-313. 


335 


336 


Index. 


Dorian  invasion,  70. 

Dorpfeld,  Professor,  26,  27,  86,  143. 

Draco,  97. 

Eastern  influences,  no. 

Egypt  conquered  by  the  Romans,  299. 

Egyptian  influences,  71. 

Empedocles,  211. 

Epaminondas,  168,  170,  173,  225. 

Epicurean  philosophy,  261-263. 

Epicurus,  261,  267. 

Erechtheum,  148. 

"  Ethics"  of  Aristotle,  203. 

Euclid's  "  Elements,"  286. 

Eumenes  of  Cardia,  239. 

Euripides,  143,  157-159,  211. 

Exposure  of  infants,  218,  269-270. 

Extortion  by  Roman  governors,  299. 

Field  sports,  172. 

Gelon,  112. 

Glaukopis  Athene,  34. 

Gold  currency,  240. 

Graecomania  among  the  Romans,  298, 

302. 
Grote,  16,  68,  233. 
Gyges  of  Lydia,  69. 
Hegemony,  Greek  dislike  of,  224. 
Hellenic  unity,  75. 
Hermes  of  Olympia,  the,  184. 
Herondas,  "  Mimiambics  "  of,  275-276. 
Hesiod,  17,  59-63,  116. 
Hipparchus,  117. 
Hippias  of  Elis,  68. 
Hissarlik,  23,  25,  29. 
Homer,  15-17,  24,  180. 
Homeric  Age,  41-67. 
Horace,  89. 
Hospitality,  52-53. 
Ictinus,  135,  147,  208. 
Idealism  of  the  Greek  genius,  213. 
Idols  at  Troy,  34. 
Iliad,  17,  24,  42-44. 
"  Ilios,"  Schliemann's,  26. 
"  In  Memoriam,"  the,  163. 
Intellectual  average  high,  128. 
Interest,  rate  of,  201. 
Ionic  architecture,  209. 
Isocrates,  181,  182,  183,  217. 
Jealousies,  commercial,  107. 
Leuctra,  173. 

Lion  Gate  at  Mycenae,  22. 
Locrians,  192,  193. 


Longinus's  "On  the  Sublime,"  312. 

Long  wall,  the,  146. 

Lucretius,  211,  262. 

Lycurgus,  80-81. 

Lydian  monarchy,  72-73. 

Lyric  poets,  88,  101. 

Lysander,  157,  215,  241. 

Lysias,  198. 

Lysippus,  235. 

Macedonian  conquest,  significance  of, 

239- 
Marathon,  121. 
Marathon,  lion  of,  196. 
Medes,  73. 
Mehemet  Ali,  100. 
Melians,  oppression  of,  154-156. 
Menander,  264,  267,  271. 
Menelaus,  court  of,  54. 
Menidi,  29,  41. 

Mercenary  soldiers,  72,  187,  232,  248. 
Meter  of  Homeric  poems,  46. 
Middle  Comedy,  266. 
Monarchies,  hereditary,  33. 
Monetary  problems,  200. 
Mummius,  298. 
Music,  128. 

Mycenae,  24-25,  27,  29,  34. 
"Mycenae,"  Schliemann's,  26. 
Mythology,  18-19. 
Naucratis,  71. 
Navy,  Athenian,  136. 
New  Comedy,  264-266,  268-272. 
New  Testament  Greek,  309. 
Nike  of  Samothrace,  the,  220,  247. 
"  Nine  Wells,"  the,  86,  117. 
Odeum,  146. 
Odyssey,  42,  63. 
Olympiads,  69. 
Olympias,  245. 
Olympieion,  117. 
Oratory,  power  of,  132. 
Orchomenus,  22,  30,  115. 
Ostrich  egg  at  Mycenae,  31. 
Paestum,  temple  at,  131. 
Pantheism,  105,  258-259. 
Parmenides,  211. 
Parrhasius,  183. 

Parthenon,  14,  130,  143,  146,  147. 
l'ausanias,  30S. 
Pelopids,  30. 
Peloponnesian  War,  151-154. 


Index. 


337 


Pergamene  art,  289. 

Pergamum,  26,  288,  289-290,  291. 

Periander,  99-100. 

Pericles,  142,  144-146. 

Perseids,  30. 

Persia,  187. 

Persian  aristocracy,  in. 

Persian  War,  effects  of,  134. 

Pheidon  of  Argos,  69,  113. 

Phenician  traders,  33,  69. 

Phidias,  147,  206,  210. 

Philip   of  Macedon,  183,  188,  190-192, 

195,  225. 
Philodemus  of  Gadara,  302. 
Philosophy    a    necessity    for    Greeks, 

104. 
Phocion,  judicial  murder  of,  249-252. 
Pindar,  91-95,  115,  123. 
Pisistratids,  86. 
Pisistratus,  98,  100. 
Plato,  175-180,  211-212. 
Plautus,  268. 
Plutarch,  82,  220,  321-328. 
"  Politics"  of  Aristotle,  203. 
Polybius,  294-298,  321. 
Polygamy  of  kings  of  Macedon,  191. 
Polytheism,  105. 
Praxiteles,  184. 
"  Prometheus,"  interpretations  of,  125- 

126. 
Prose,  development  of,  137-138. 
Ptolemies,  the,  307. 
Ptolemy  II.,  245,  255. 
Pyrrho  the  Skeptic,  262. 
Pyrrhus,  king  of  Epirus,  248,  254,  255. 
Religion,  character  of,  105. 
Renaissance,  Italian,  13. 
Rhodes,  273,  277-280. 
Roman  attitude    to    Greek    art,   221  ; 

conquest  of  Egypt,  299;  conquest  of 

Greece,  297  ;  conquest  of  Spain,  299  ; 

imitation  of  the  Greeks,  305  ;  soldiers 

not    mercenaries,   255 ;   speculators, 

300. 
Rotundas,  184. 
Sack  of  Corinth,  297. 
St.  Paul,  139,  258,  309-310. 


Sappho,  89,  102. 

Sarcophagus  of  Sidon,  208,  235-237. 

Saul,  257. 

Schliemann,  Dr.,  23,  25-27. 

Scopas,  184. 

Sculpture,  128-130,  206. 

Sicily,  108,  112. 

Simonides,  93-94. 

Siphnians,  treasury  of,  95. 

Skepticism,  262. 

Slavery,  150,  219. 

Socrates,  157,  160-162,  164. 

Solon,  96-98,  118. 

Sophocles,  142,  210. 

Sophron,  276. 

Sparta,  78,  82,  114,  167. 

Spartan  aristocracy,  80-81,  no;  con- 
stitution, 82;  mercenaries,  232;  su- 
premacy, 112. 

Spartans,  113-114. 

Spata,  29,  41. 

Scoicism,  258-260. 

Strabo,  302. 

Tanagra  figurines,  185-187. 

Terence,  268. 

Theban  insurrection,  229. 

Thebes,  170,  174,  229. 

Themistocles,  121,  122, 132. 

Theocritus,  274,  275,  286. 

Theology  in  Homer,  17,  47. 

Theoric  Fund,  189-190. 

Thucydides,  139,  140-142,  151,  210,  215. 

Tiryns,  22,  24,  25,  26. 

Tombs,  evidence  from,  35. 

Trade,  48,  64,  240,  314. 

Treasure-house  of  Atreus,  37. 

Troy,  22-23,  25~26. 

Tyrants,  99,  117. 

Tyrtaeus,  97,  112,  113. 

Vaphio,  41,  78. 

Venus  of  Melos,  208,  220,  293. 

Wolf's  "  Prolegomena,"  67. 

Women,  position  of,  54-56,  217-218,  329. 

Xenophon,  113,165,  168-173. 

Xerxes,  121. 

Zeno,  256,  257. 

Zeuxis,  183. 


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